Earth 2018.616:

"W-Who are...?" The girl then let out a sharp scream as she began to slide down the brick wall. "What!? What the...!?" Her limbs scrabbled on the brick surface, dropping the mask in her hand as it sailed through the area between Miles' legs, before finding purchase. She was now facing him, her eyes widened and her face red. "That... that's not supposed to happen! Dad was supposed to stick on surfaces like... like..."

"Wait, Dad? You mean your dad's Spider-Man?" Miles winced when the words left his mouth. He really should've kept quiet and focused on getting down while the superhero girl was distracted. "Damn it... I didn't even want to be here!"

"Aw, dude! This mask reeks!" Miles glanced down to see Ganke prying the mask away from his face. "It smells like sweat and old hot dogs!"

That made the girl focus her attention back on him. "What!? I washed that thing like five... forget it! Who the heck are you!?" She pointed at Miles with her right hand. "How can you stick to the wall like that? Why are you up here and why is my Spider-Sense acting weird when I look at you!?"

"I.. Uh..." How should he put this? 'Oh, I got bitten by a weird-ass glowing spider and woke up with spider powers?' "Okay, sure that's plausible considering all the crazy crap that does happen but will she actually buy it?"

"A-Are you... Did my Da-" Suddenly, whatever was sticking her to the wall seemed to give out and she began falling towards Miles. "-AAAAA!?"

Miles yelped and thrust his hands out on reflex. Fat lot of good it did to stop her though. It was still weird as hell standing on the side of a building. Who knew if he could keep it up with another body crashing onto him?

Something happened that took his mind off the inevitable disaster.

Power began coursing through his veins. His body felt like it was humming with energy, all of it flowing to his hands that almost seemed numb. "The hell?" He opened his eyes a bit and saw that everything was practically in slow motion. The girl falling towards him, her face twisting into a mix of shock and fear, and the electricity dancing across his arms.

At least it looked like electricity. It was almost orange in color, dancing and weaving while leaving behind sparks from his hands and down his arms. They stopped just before his shoulders, seeming to dissipate either in the air or back into his body so it could be recycled.

"Well that's new."

The girl's back touched his hands and the electricity danced across her body. He heard her let out a small scream as she crashed onto him and Miles felt his feet tear off the bricks before they both crashed onto the ground.

Miles let out a pained cough and groan as he stared at the starless sky. "I could've been with Uncle Aaron right now..."

Ganke's head peeked from the side of his vision looking down on him. "Miles, you okay?"

"No..."

"Yeah, that was kinda a drop." His best fried cracked an uneasy grin. "But hey, since you aren't dead and nothing's broken we can say that super-durability's one of your powers!"

"Hate you... I hate you so much right now, Ganke." Miles' eyes snapped open when he registered the weight on his midsection. "The girl!" He propped his upper body up with his arms and looked down to see the costumed girl was laying horizontally on him. Her eyes were closed and she seemed so still, sparks or orange popping off her body as if she were just electrocuted like an old cartoon. "Oh God, please tell me she isn't dead!"

Ganke leaned down and put his hand over her nose. "No, no she's still breathing." He scratched his head. "Don't recognize her at all... maybe she's a newcomer?"

"Help get her off me!" Ganke grabbed the girl's arms and with a small grunt lifted her off Miles as he scooted out. "Gently!" He put his hands under her body as they lowered her to the ground. "Oh man... oh man! What the hell did I do!?"

"Yeah, you went all sparkly there..." Ganke rubbed his chin. "I don't think Spider-Man had electricity in his power set."

"That's not it, dude! She mentioned her dad! And... and I think that's Spider-Man!"

Ganke's eyes widened. "Whoa. Total legacy situation!"

Miles glared at Ganke, killing the fanboy squeal before it came. "Now's not the time for that! She's going to wake up and be totally pissed! She already probably thinks I've got something to do with Spider-Man being a no-show for months and... and I..."

God, he couldn't do this! He had enough crap on his plate with Dad, the school, Uncle Aaron, and these bullshit powers! Now he assaulted a superhero! This girl was probably going to sic the Avengers on him or something!

"HOLY CRAP!"

Ganke's cry snapped Miles out of his panic and made him look at his best friend. The heavy teen was pointing at him, mouth agape but also spread in a wide grin.

"Invisibility! You can turn invisible, Miles!"

He looked down and saw what Ganke was saying was technically true. His body was practically see-through! But while raising his hands he saw that it wasn't completely true. "My body... it must be bending the light to make me semi-transparent. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to see myself!"

This... this was too much. Miles sat on the ground and noticed his body snapped out of the invisibility. Placing his hands over his face he groaned, "The hell am I supposed to do now? These powers... we need to leave before this girl wakes up and beats my ass back to Brooklyn..."

"Dude, that's gotta be the dumbest idea I've heard from you!" Dragging his hands slowly down he stared at Ganke who was shaking his head. "Most superhero fights start because of misunderstandings like this! Did you mean to hit her with that electro-blast?"

"N-No..."

"Did you kidnap Spider-Man?"

"No..."

"Are you planning on becoming a supervillain and taking her back to your secret lair?"

"Hell no!"

"Then you've got nothing to be scared about! We'll just wait around until she wakes up and explain everything!" Ganke nodded to himself. "I doubt a superhero's just going to beat on a guy not fighting back. Honestly, it's a wonder why the other superheroes didn't do stuff like this when starting out."

"...He has a point." Miles shakily got to his feet and stumbled towards his discarded Jordans. "I've got nothing to hide. This is all just one big misunderstanding and it'll all be solved as soon as she wakes up."

Speaking of which...

"When will she wake up?"

"Don't look at me. You're the one who has the powers. I say we wait five minutes before calling an ambulance and seeing if that jacket has contact information." Ganke's face lit up. "Hey, in the meantime let's rename that electricity power of yours! I think it should be 'Venom Blast'!"

"Where the heck did you draw the connection between venom and electricity?"

"Well, she's paralyzed right now isn't she? It's totally like venom!"

Miles groaned. This was going to be a long five minutes.

Roderick Kingsley frowned as he looked at the notification on his tablet.

Daniel Kingsley's Heart-Rate: Zero

The possibility of Daniel somehow figuring out the trackers Roderick had put in his body and took them out were dismissed right away. Daniel was an idiot. Even if his younger brother had a healthy amount of fear and suspicion about him, he would never suspect the extent Roderick kept tabs on him.

Tapping on the notification, Roderick watched with a furrowed brow as the dot that represented Daniel's focused on the Hudson Valley of all places. It was moving slowly but surely to Canopus Lake before simply stopping in the middle of it.

Looks like someone decided to throw away the body.

"Could it be Li? Perhaps Pride is deciding to make Daddy Owlsley's ghost proud or the Libris family deciding to flex their muscle." It was times like these where he missed Wilson Fisk. The tub of lard may have been a bastard to deal with but at least it narrowed the list of suspects. Now thanks to the late and hopefully rotting in hell Frank Castle, there were dozens of wannabe Kingpins vying for control of the New York underworld.

He eliminated Li outright. He and 'Mr. Negative" had come to a mutually beneficial understanding with Li controlling non-powered criminals while Roderick controlled all enhanced activity. Pride may be a brat but she wasn't stupid. If she found out about this con then she would've been a lot more subtle with her displeasure. The Libris Family didn't seem to care about what he did, rather focusing on making plans to burn down Hell's Kitchen and hopefully kill Daredevil while they are at it.

"There's a new player..." Roderick sipped his Cuba Libre and opened the online call application he had hired dozens of desperate collage grads swimming up to their eyeballs in debt to make secure. "This will have to be dealt with."

After two rings and Prowler picked up. "Yo, boss. What's up?"

"Someone has just killed Daniel."

Prowler was silent for a moment. "Who do you need me to bump off?"

"I don't know yet. That's why I'm calling you." Roderick set down his glass. "That's what I'm hoping for you to discover. Daniel's body is in the Canopus Lake so don't bother trying to recover it. I will send my own men who'll get in and out discreetly. I want you to go around asking questions. Such as what was my idiot brother doing in the Hudson Valley. I want you to find out what he did after my little chat with him and begin narrowing suspects. Bring them to me... and I'll tell you who needs to die."

"Understood." Prowler hung up, allowing Roderick to begin opening his secure email to call in a favor from Dario Agger and Senator Patrick.

Dario Agger was someone he could relate to. He knew the power of money and how the sway of both it and media could manipulate perception of the masses. When Roderick came to Roxxon to open up the possibility of corporate sponsorships, he was brought into Dario's office and told point-blank that he understood the con.

And he wanted in.

Dario Agger and Roxxon's board understood the benefit of the Kingsley Corporation's aims. Having superhero fights, all of it staged, allowed them to keep the public distracted as the United States government passed law after law benefitting Roxxon.

All of them penned by their paid politicians such as Senator Patrick.

The hick was a walking contradiction. A man of the people who secretly despised them, a Senator that promoted family values while being a serial adulterer, and an opponent against Big Government while pocketing the money of Roxxon. He also loathed teenage activists and superheroes, so Kingsley shot him an idea.

Why not make the Superhero Registration Act a thing again, but only target teenage superheroes?

It was perfect for the both of them. Patrick could now legally arrest and brutalize the Champions while Kingsley began to introduce government-approved teenage superheroes mentored by men of the Kingsley Corporation. Slowly but surely the old guard would be phased out and Roderick would have control of all the players while raking in the profit.

But now Daniel's death and this new player were introducing a hiccup.

After sending the requests for Roxxon to recover his brother's body and Patrick to ship him a spare LMD to take his brother's place he leaned back in his beach chair.

"My brother is an idiot but that's not why I'm annoyed." Roderick narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Someone has decided to move against me. That will not stand."

But he needed to be smart about this. He didn't end up living a life of luxury by being hasty. Even when he bought all of Osborn's old gear and became the Hobgoblin, Roderick knew that he was walking a tightrope between success and failure.

This was just another battle, and when it came to battles...

...the Hobgoblin always came out on top.

Mayday groaned as she got up. Her entire body was sore, each muscle groaning from the strain of her movements and her head pounding in pain. "What happened...?" She muttered to herself while rubbing her forehead.

"Oh thank God, she's alive!"

She opened her eyes and blinked. Her vision was blurry and images overlapped one another, but she could swear that she recognized the guy on his knees to her right. "Is he from Midtown High? I don't think I've seen him in the halls before..."

"Ganke! Hang up! I think she's coming to!"

She narrowed her eyes at the person he was speaking to, a heavy Asian kid around her age wearing cargo shorts and a black t-shirt with a yellow DC Comics logo. His right hand held a phone that was pressed to his ear while his left held an open red wallet.

But it wasn't any red wallet. She recognized the black outlined top-hat, the mask, and the white eyehole that looked like it was engulfed in flames. "T-That's my wallet!"

"Um, yeah no! No need! She's coming to!" The guy, Ganke, seemed to be sweating. "My name! It's... uh..." He hung up the phone and looked desperately at his friend. "I'm going to get into so much trouble, Miles. I'm pretty sure they can track phone numbers nowadays!"

Before Ganke or the newly-named Miles could answer, Mayday was on her feet and snatched the wallet from his hands. "Who are you!?" She screamed while looking from one to the other. "Where am I!? What are you...?"

"Hey, May, please calm down..." Ganke held his hands out in surrender. "We were just..."

"How do you know my...?" She narrowed her eyes at Ganke. "You looked in my wallet!?"

"We needed to know your name before we called 911!"

"Okay, look I know it was uncool but we were kinda freaking out." Miles was on his feet giving a nervous smile. "You were out of it for over five minutes and we were worried. We were just lucky you had it in your jacket's pocket."

It was all coming back to her. She had messed up changing directions on her swing and landed on an alleyway wall. She took off her mask because she thought that one had a crack and looked down to see...

She pointed a finger at Miles. "How... you were the one who shocked me!?"

"By accident!" Miles shook his head. "Trust me, I did not want to start something with you. You just fell off the wall and I put my hands out. Next thing I knew electricity was coming out of my hands and you were on me completely unconscious!"

"Trust me. Miles is, like, the last person who would start a fight." Ganke put his hand on Miles' shoulder. "There's this douchebag in our school named Sean who always has some smart-ass remark and makes freshmen smell his farts. If Miles wanted to floor somebody with his new powers it would be him!"

Mayday looked at Miles who was shooting his friend a glare. "It looks like they're telling the truth..." But it was more than just Miles' expression telling her that. The warm tingling sensation from her Spider-Sense had returned, seeming to wash away her worry and confusion with each passing second. It seemed to be telling her that she could trust this guy who she just met and had shocked her unconscious. "Okay... okay." She massaged her temples. "So you didn't just attack me. That's good..."

"See Miles, what did I tell you?" Ganke grinned at her and nodded. "Just a nice, simple talk is all you need to avoid a classic misunderstanding fight! Honestly, I don't get why all the other superheroes haven't tried this before."

"Superheroes..." Mayday realized that she didn't have her mask on and groaned. "Damn it... I just started and two people already know my identity!"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't keep your student I.D or your credit cards in your wallet the next time your on patrol." Ganke replied matter-of-factly as he took her mask out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Mayday stared at Miles who was shifting awkwardly in her gaze. "So... does the wall-crawling have anything to do with the electricity you knocked me out with?"

Miles bristled under the question. "No!"

"So far, we don't have enough evidence to suggest that his wall-crawling and the Venom Blast are connected to anything besides powers spiders have."

"Ganke, I am not calling it that! And for the last time, spiders don't shoot freakin' electricity from their bodies!" Miles pointed a finger at him. "Name me one that does!"

"Hey, come on! I think it's a cool name!" Mayday wasn't lying, either. Venom Blast was a totally awesome name for a power! "Kinda wish that my dad didn't name everything Spider-Something." Speaking of powers. "Say, how did you get yours? Are you a Mutant or..."

God, she hoped he didn't say its from a dad he never met. She had learned enough secrets about her dad in the past two days. She didn't need to know that he might've been cheating on Mom before they even divorced.

"What? No, I'm..." Miles shifted from foot to foot. "We think it might be from some freaky spider that bit me yesterday."

"I'm thinking its something from a lab! Like a freaky AIM rogue cell experiment that got loose!" Ganke scratched his head. "But... if that were the case Robert da Costa would've had a press release about it. He's supposed to be their leader and he always keeps the public in the loop regarding those cells."

"What're the odds..." She muttered half to herself with widened eyes. It was just like with her dad! Freaky experiment messes with a spider and some random person is given amazing abilities completely by chance! "Dad would probably flip if he heard..."

"So your dad is the original Spider-Man!" Ganke chuckled to himself. "Man, this is awesome! You've gotta tell us everything! Like, did he leave you a book about how to use those powers? Because we're kinda winging it and any help would go a long way!"

Before she could answer, Miles threw up his hands. "What the hell, man? There's no way I'm doing that!"

"What? Come on! We might get professional help for you!"

"There's no way I'm getting involved with superheroes!"

"What's wrong with superheroes?" Mayday felt hurt and kinda offended. If Miles needed help she would give it, even if she was still on the 'testing powers' stage of things.

Miles sighed. "Look, it's not you. It's just that I've got all kinds of crap happening in my life right now and the last thing I need..."

"But this can be our in to the Avengers or something!" Ganke pointed out. "I don't think its a smart idea to close doors like this."

"God, you sound like my dad right now Ga-!" Mayday's jaw practically dropped when Miles seemed to disappear from view. "Come on, again!?"

"He can turn invisible too?" She asked Ganke who grinned at her.

"And crush LEGO pieces! I think he has the full Spider-Man package and then some!"

"Oh, that's so unfair." Shaking her head she stared at Miles' shimmering form. "Look, Miles I don't know you but maybe you should consider becoming a superhero? I mean, you've got all these crazy powers it would be a waste not to use them!" A smile stretched across her face. "I mean, my dad will probably keep using the Spider-Man name but you can be something like Spider-Lad or Spider-Bite!"

"Are you from the forties? Spider-Boy would at least be more dignified!" Mayday felt herself blush at Ganke's remark. Those names did sound kinda stupid.

Miles reappeared with a scowl on his face. "Look, you don't know me alright? Everyone's going on and on about all the stuff I've got but nobody's interested in what I want!" He put his hands into his pockets. "So I don't want to be a superhero just because I got powers I didn't even ask for in the first place! And besides, have you counted how many superheroes are in Manhattan nowadays? Nobody's going to be needing a new one! Hell, some of them wish that they would move someplace else rather than crowding up the skyline!" He turned around and began to leave. "This is my life, and for once I wanna decide how I live it!"

"Miles, wait!" But he didn't turn around and Mayday bit her lip. She should get angry since Miles snapped at her for no real reason. She had only wanted to help him out! "But what right do I have to judge?" Not everyone wanted to become a superhero. Hell, a few days ago she didn't even think she could become one! Can she fault someone else who got gifts like these and just wanted to live their life? "And Jesus, I was talking about him wasting his powers? I sounded just like Dad, and I hated speeches like that!"

"Look, don't mind him..." She turned to Ganke who was giving her a nervous smile. "He's kinda going through a lot lately."

"I can relate." Mayday let out a sigh. "Look, can you tell him I'm sorry? I didn't mean to lecture him or anything. I hate lectures too and the last thing I want is to sound like... well... my dad."

Yeah, that was real rich coming from her. Who was trying to become a superhero just so that she could find him again?

"No problem!" Ganke reached into his pocket. "Say... where is Spider-Man? Heard he's missing or something."

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

"Cool!" Ganke then took out his phone. "Say, if you want I can give you my number." She raised an eyebrow at this, causing Ganke's cheeks to redden. "N-Not like that! I mean, it's cool how you're a superhero and all but... I mean... I know a lot about superheroes and Miles is still trying to figure stuff out. So maybe we can trade tips?"

Well, Mayday had to admit that this sounded like a good idea. The last thing she wanted was for Miles to fall off a building like she had before, and maybe Miles would find a way to control his strength before she did. "Sure, that sounds like a good idea. Just don't tell anyone, okay?" She reached into her jacket and took out her phone. "I want to keep my identity a secret."

"Got it. Don't worry, I know the drill with secret identities. The less people know the better." They exchanged phone numbers and Ganke sent her a smile-faced emoji. "And don't worry about Miles, he's pretty tight-lipped regarding secrets."

"Good to know." With that, Ganke began to run out the alleyway. "Make sure you tell him I'm sorry!"

"Can do!" As Mayday put on her mask Ganke shouted from over his shoulder, "And try to concentrate on climbing walls! I noticed you lost your grip when you got surprised by Miles earlier, Spider-Ma'am!"

"It's Spider-Girl!" She shouted after him before he disappeared from view. Turning to the wall she jumped on top and really focused on not falling on her butt this time.

Rather than having that weird sensation of slowly sliding off, she managed to stick on without feeling like her body was moving down millimetre by millimetre.

"Baby steps, Mayday. Baby steps..."

"So… we gonna talk about what happened back there?"

Miles rubbed his temples. He had been hoping that the trip back to Brooklyn would be a quiet one. For the most part, Ganke respected that until they got off the train. "Ganke, I'm really not in the mood."

"I'm just saying that talking about it might make you feel better. I mean, you kinda blew up on a superhero for saying that you should use your powers."

"Oh, don't start with me on that. Besides, she's just starting out so I don't think it's right to just call her a superhero already." Miles shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "Though… yeah. I shouldn't have yelled at her like that."

His uncle had taught him that a man needed to be cool in front of the ladies. Think before speaking, that way he wouldn't say anything lame or get a girl angry. Always wear a smile and pretend everything's a-okay even when it wasn't.

To be honest, that Mayday girl was the first girl he ever really talked to.

But no, he had to blow that. Had to let what she was saying get to him an make him blow his top. Miles felt like an ass for how that ended and that feeling probably wasn't going away anytime soon.

"Well, why did you?" Ganke's voice brought Miles out of his thoughts. He looked to see his friend frowning at him. "I mean, you gotta expect superheroes like that give that kind of lecture to every powered person they find."

"I dunno man, It's just… I didn't need another lecture on what I should or shouldn't do." He glanced down the street at his apartment building. "I've got Mom and Dad to do that for me."

"Alright, alright fine." Ganke took out his phone. "Still think it's a waste of freakin' superpowers."

"Oh, like the five hundred times you mentioned that to me before?"

"Still, something good out of this!" Ganke thrust the phone in Miles' face that displayed a contact screen. It was one displaying the name Mayday Parker, her number, and a contact icon of Spider-Man's mask. "I got the number of a superhero! A real-life superhero! That's better than any autograph!"

"Please tell me you're not going to bombard her with texts and stuff."

"Nah, this is basically so that you can help her with figuring out your powers and vice-versa." Miles had to admit that Ganke's idea had merit. What better way to learn how to use freaky Spider-Powers than having someone going through the same thing?

"Plus it'll give me a chance to apologize… I sounded like a total jerk."

"Also, it'll be handy to have if we're stuck in a jam…" Ganke began to frown and his eyes drooped a bit. "...or if we were to find something about Spider-Man's disappearance."

Miles bit his lip. Yeah, Mayday had mentioned that her father was missing. While Miles didn't like the idea of getting involved with superhero stuff, he wasn't enough of an asshole to just ignore an opportunity to help find someone's dad. "Yeah, okay that sounds good. We'll just call her up if we see anything." He then eyed Ganke. "But we aren't doing any investigative work!"

"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!"

"Dude, it'll more that likely involve supervillains and then we'll have to call her to handle them!"

"Well you're the one with powers! You can kick butt if we need to!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not…"

"MILES!"

Miles looked up and winced when he saw his mom and dad, still dressed in their uniforms, raced towards him. Rio Morales' turquoise scrub was almost like a beacon in the streetlight-illuminated streets while Jefferson Davis stuck out like a sore thumb anywhere due to his height and muscles.

Both of them were currently Miles' worst nightmare.

Mom pulled him into a suffocating hug and asked "¡¿Dónde has estado toda la noche?!"

He pushed himself off her shoulder, gasping for air and thumbing over to Ganke. "¡Con Ganke, Mom! ¡Caminamos en Queens!"

Mom released him from her grasp and glared at him with intensity only matched by Dad. "We've been calling you like crazy, Miles!" He pointed at Miles with one hand on his hip. "And texted! You know the rules! No hanging out with Ganke without telling us, and come home by nine! It's almost two in the morning!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Morales!" Ganke laughed while scratching the back of his head. "We just lost track of time and I wanted to see if a sighting of Moon Knight in Queens was legit!"

Mom looked at Ganke and smiled, but Miles could tell it had an edge to it. "Well, thank you for being honest with us, Ganke! But I think you should tell it to your mother. She was worried sick when we called!"

Ganke's eyes practically bugged out of his sockets as he turned on his heel. "SeeyouonSundayMiles!" With that, Ganke disappeared down the block as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Sorry, Mom. Dad." Miles put his hands into his pockets. "It won't happen again."

Mom looked towards Dad who nodded at her. "You made us both worried, Miles." She wagged her finger at him. "Pull this on us again, and you better be sure that your butt will be grounded!"

"Got it!" Miles followed them both up the stone steps of their apartment building with Dad holding the door open for them. "It won't happen again."

"Good." Miles shivered and could practically feel his dad's judgemental glare. "Now what was this I heard about you skipping homeroom today?"

Miles let out a long-suffering sigh, mentally preparing himself for The Lecture.

It was so good to be back home.

The opening lyrics to Peace Sign by Kenshi Yonezu blared our from her alarm clock. She had hooked it up with her phone so that it would play anything but the annoying blare of an electronic horn. Specifically her favorite songs so she could be pumped up for a brand new day.

Now it just sounded like nails on a chalkboard and a quick smash of her fist on top of it ended the torture.

It was the sound of broken glass and plastic that made Mayday open her eyes.

"Crap."

She yawned and stretched her arms, the sore muscles groaning in protest from the act while bits of her destroyed alarm clock dropped onto her. "Hope Mom'll buy me a new one."

Throwing the blanket off, she jumped off the bed and landed feet-first on the wall behind it. She focused hard on staying on the wall while looking for her next landing spot. Glancing at her dresser she leapt off the wall and rolled in a somersault before handing on the top edge. Mayday ignored the sound of some of her nick-knacks falling off and used the dresser as a launching pad to her closet, vaulting over her desk's chair to land perfectly in front of the sliding doors.

The mirror showed her grin as she thought, "Wonder how many girls can make their morning routine that exciting!"

Well, it was certainly more exciting than her first patrol.

The run-in with Miles and Ganke had been the highlight of her first day as a superhero. She swung around Queens for hours, only to find nothing. No muggings, no robberies of even the bike variety, and no supervillains on a rampage! "Do they all just do that stuff in Manhattan?"

She supposed that it was a good thing. Mayday certainly didn't want to see people get hurt just so that she could be a superhero. But how was an up-and-coming superheroine supposed to make a name for herself when the most important event of her first night was finding a guy with the exact same powers?

"Bet Miles got a good night's sleep." When Mayday put on the Fantastic Five t-shirt she brought her face closer to the mirror. Were those bags under her eyes? No, that was impossible since it was her first day practically staying up all night. But she did look like someone who got an hour of sleep. "He doesn't have to go on patrol and…"

A knock on the door interrupted Mayday's train of thought. "Mayday? Are you up?"

"Yeah, Mom!" Mayday pulled on the pair of jeans and began to button them on her waist. "Just putting on clothes!"

"Alright, just asking." Mom's voice began to fade as she walked away from the door. "Remember that you're going to that game with Davida! It's all you were talking about this week!"

Mayday tried hard not to wince. She had completely forgotten about that. Glancing at her backpack, still stuffed with the Spider-Girl costume and jacket, she leaned down and stuffed random articles of clothing into it before zippering it up. "Guess patrol's happening at night, again." She muttered to herself.

Still, it would be best to bring it along. The web-shooters were made of a hard plastic and she could masquerade the costume with a bunch of crap so the x-ray wouldn't notice it. If something were to happen she would have her costume ready so that Spider-Girl could save the day!

After gelling and combing her hair she rushed out and smiled at the Spanish omelet that Mom made. "Mom, thanks!"

Her mom smiled at her. "Well, your father often ate a lot because his body burned more calories…" The smile dampened a bit. "At least until he hit his thirties. So eat up Mayday, but be sure not to snack on junk food when you're hungry."

Mayday shivered. "Trust me, I don't plan to gain any pounds." As she ate she made glances at her mom who was focused on her breakfast and the news. There was something going on about the Hulk being sighted in Nevada and Wakanda announcing their space colonies, but nothing about Spider-Girl. "Well I didn't do much, but I should've gotten at least some coverage!"

But she didn't stop any crimes, so she could see why she wasn't on primetime. Taking out her phone she went to Twitter and searched for all tags related to Spider-Man.

That's when she saw them. The blurry pictures, the short posts asking if Spider-Man is back, and the occasional one groaning about there being another Spider-Woman.

But she was trending and that made her smile.

"Maybe I should make a twitter account for Spider-Girl!" Yeah, that would let her keep in touch with her fanbase and keep up the hype when she had her big break! "Though I'll need to be careful. Last thing I need is to get doxxed and put Mom in danger."

"Stop playing your phone at the table, Mayday."

"Okay, Mom." Mayday was grateful that Mom didn't have a Twitter account. She made posts on Facebook but that was the full extent of Mary Jane Watson's social media presence. Mom called Twitter "the site of destroyed careers", but Mayday thought she was being overdramatic about that. "You planning on doing anything today?"

"I just have to visit the set in Brooklyn. I'll probably be back home late tonight."

"Maybe you should call Uncle Phil for a date!"

Mom gave a small laugh and shook her head. "Come on, me and Phil are just friends!" Mayday had doubts about that. "They're not dates! Besides, he told me he would be busy today over text so it's a no-go."

Well, that meant she just had to avoid Brooklyn during her patrol.

Mayday felt her phone vibrate and took it out to see a text from Davida.

"Get ur butt down here! I'm getting bored!"

"Gotta go, Mom!" She scarfed down the rest of her eggs and put the dishes in the sink. Snagging a bottle of water from the fridge she want to the door with her backpack sling over her shoulder. "Love you!"

"Wait, Mayday!" She glanced back at Mom who was giving her a nervous smile. "You're… okay after yesterday, right?"

In other words, "you're not planning on dressing up in tights to fight crime for Dad, right?"

She didn't like to lie to Mom, but she also couldn't deal with this kind of argument without a good counterpoint. One she didn't have until she beat up a few supervillains.

So Mayday grinned and said, "Yup, great! Trust me, Mom. I've never been better!"

Before Mom could answer Mayday was out the door and running down the hallway. Her Spider-Sense went off and almost unconsciously she spun to avoid the outstretched foot of her and Mom's neighbor.

Her eyes unconsciously scanned his body and she had to keep down the bile in her throat when she saw he was only dressed in purple boxers. "Put on some pants, Mr. Myers!"

"Where's the fire, kid?!" Fred Myers shouted after her, but Mayday was trying to repress the memory of seeing her almost naked neighbor taking out his trash.

"Okay, ew! Repress… repress…!"

She was succeeding when she reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped through the door. Jumping down the three stone steps and grinned at her best friend and teammate Davida Kirby. "Sorry to keep you waiting, girlfriend!"

Davida stuck her tongue out at that. "God, Mayday! You sure know how to keep a date waiting!"

"I know, I know!" She clapped her hands in a prayer gesture. "Sorry! I just had to deal with some stuff!"

Davida narrowed her eyes at her. "Damn, Mayday. You get any sleep last night!"

"Barely. Had to deal with…" Mayday searches her mind for an appropriate explanation. "...family stuff."

"Well, hope this family stuff won't make us miss the Ned Talk tomorrow." A smirk began to grow across Davida's lips. "Brad's going to be there with Moose."

Mayday's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. "B-Brad? As in Brad Miller?" Football captain and Midtown High's Golden Boy Brad? The guy who she had a crush on ever since the eight grade? That Brad Miller?

"Yes, that Brad. The guy you already hang out with." Davida huffed. "Come on, girl. I'm not going to play you like that. I'll go with the lunkhead to get pretzels or something to leave you two alone." She wagged her finger at Mayday. "Don't blow this chance."

"I-I won't! Thank you so much, Davida!"

She and Brad had been… well, friends she guessed for a while now. Sure, he liked to rib on her for her 'nerdy' tastes but that was just him joshing her a bit! She had fun when she was with him and she had longed for the day they could go out but there never seemed to be a chance.

Now was the perfect opportunity!

"Okay, wipe that drool off your face." Davida pointed down the street. "Madison Square Garden awaits!"

Mayday had a goofy smile on her face during the entire trip.

She was going to be a big-time superhero, she was going to find her dad, and she was possibly going to date the school heartthrob!

There was nothing that could bring her down!

Phil licked his lips as he watched the entrance of the Bar with No Name, the favorite watering hole of every costumed supervillain in New York City. While he hadn't been in the superhero game for long, he had been made aware of its existence by Spider-Man.

The New York location had been destroyed a couple of times before the owners got wise and began to change locations on the down-low with the address being spread through word-of-mouth.

"Thank god that Overdrive guy is kinda a loud mouth."

The remodeled helmet he was wearing had a microphone that could pick up conversations from blocks away or through walls. It had taken him all day, but he found Overdrive hanging out with that new Beetle after knocking over a 7-Eleven for chump change. They had agreed to go to the Bar with No Name to meet with Speed Demon about a bigger job, and Overdrive loudly asked if the address he had was the right one.

For the past few hours he had been sitting outside of the bar listening into the conversations inside. While most of it was junk, like a quiz night with superheroes as the topic, there was some talk that he found incredibly interesting.

Most of the supervillains were working under someone called 'The Big Boss' and those that weren't were only allowed to perform crimes in specific locations and times. Only one of them didn't seem to be aligned with either crowd and he went by the name of 'Snatcher'.

"Alright, keep calm." Phil's hands tightened into fists. "This isn't like dealing with Spidey. These are actual supervillains. If I say the wrong thing they'll probably try to kill me. I need to be straight, to the point, and ready for anything."

He brought a couple of Pumpkin Bombs with him in case things turned ugly along with his bargaining chip. He could cause some serious damage and remotely summon his Goblin Glider to make his escape.

"And if someone dies… at least it'll just be some supervillains." He couldn't afford to take any chances. Not with MJ and Mayday waiting for him.

The door to the bar swung open and a man stepped out. Phil quickly took note of the red hair tied in a man-bun, a frizzy beard that reached to his collarbone, the tinted red-rimmed goggles, and the military-styled ammo vest and cargo pants with red stars on the knees. All of them matched the dismissive comments made by other bar patrons about the Snatcher.

The real clincher was that amongst the web of tattoos on his arms was an Iron Cross.

It sickened him to know that his only shot at getting money from Kingsley's stuff lied with this Neo-Nazi puke, but unless he wanted to stumble onto Roderick's radar he would have to bite the bullet and try hard not to just blow this guy up on standard alone.

"Okay. Here we go.." Phil muttered to himself before stepping forward and shoving his hands into his sweater pockets. "Hey!" He shouted, making the Snatcher wheel towards him. "Are you the one they call the Snatcher?"

"Who the hell is asking?" The supervillain sneered while reaching for his goggles. Phil was unsurprised by the Staten Island accent.

"Don't tense up. Don't make him think you're about to attack." Phil once again thanked his mask for distorting his voice as he stopped in place. "Someone that's interested in doing business with your employers."

That made Snatcher pause, but he didn't let go of his goggles. "Oh, really? And what kind of business is that?"

"I want to make money with those who aren't playing the game." He needed to make his pitch obvious without naming names. "I'm someone current management doesn't like… and I think I can get your employers plenty of info and toys from them."

Snatcher's lips turned into a thin line as he stared at Phil. Phil's throat was turning dry as each second ticked away. "He's not going to believe me. He's going to attack with whatever power he's got and kill me! I need to… to… NO!" He moved his fingers away from the Pumpkin Bomb he had hidden. "I can't lose my nerve! This is my one shot at bringing down Kingsley and making some money! I can't screw it up! Not now!"

Finally, the Snatcher spoke and snapped Phil out of his thoughts. "You talk a big game.. But how do I know you're legit? Any idiot can get themselves a little Halloween mask from that bitch Ronnie's shop."

"Does your boss have tech that can determine the chemical makeup of something?"

"And if they do?" Snatcher asked cautiously, a hand snaking to the pouch by his left breast.

Slowly, Phil took out with his left hand a vial full of green liquid. It was one of the several samples of Goblin Formula that Norman kept in his secret base. "Then have them take a gander at this." Phil kneeled down and rolled it towards Snatcher.

Carefully, the man picked it up and took out his phone and a small circular attachment. When he plugged it in Snatcher used his teeth to uncork the vial and tipped it so that a single drop could land on the phone attachment. After a couple of seconds the man's brow rose and he looked at Phil. "What the hell is this?"

"A taste of what I've got… and I can get your boss that and some toys from someone else who had been on it." Phil shrugged. "They should know him."

Snatcher's phone rang and he picked it up. "Mr. Essex?" He paused for a few seconds. "Yeah, he's in front of me." Snatcher nodded. "Yeah, I don't really see the risk either." After a few more grunts of acknowledgement he hung up the phone. "Well, it seems like the boss man's interested."

Phil fought back a sigh of relief and nodded. "So how are we going to do this?"

"You'll meet me back here in two hours for a flash drive that'll extract all relevant data from the servers." Snatcher reached into another one of his pouches and took out an old flip phone before tossing it to Phil. "Once your little job is done, you'll use that to call me for a pick-up location. Destroy it when you're done. Payment will be whatever we deem to be appropriate for what you got."

"Got it." Phil figured as much. Snatcher and his boss didn't trust him but this was an opportunity too juicy to pass up. They wouldn't give him any help, but Phil didn't need it.

This was going to be a simple in-and-out job. The only people getting hurt would be Roderick Kingsley's cronies and fake superheroes. He would be long gone by the time real superheroes showed up.

"Be seein' you." Snatcher threw back the vial and when Phil caught it the man was walking away.

"Yeah, likewise." Phil went deeper into an alleyway before taking his helmet off and letting out a shaky breath. God, he was sweaty and scared out of his mind.

"Just hang in there, Phil. Soon this'll all be worth it…"

"Okay… Spider-Girl's Debut: Take Two." Mayday thought to herself as she swung through Queens. "Come on, there's got to be at least some crime out there! Manhattan can't have all the luck!"

The game had been fun and she had a great time with Davida, but it irked her how her Spider-Sense didn't go off and there wasn't some mad supervillain interrupting the game because they felt cheated by the NBA. Apparently, her Spider-Sense had a range limit since there had been a mugging a couple of blocks away but Ronin handled it while she was munching on an oversized cotton candy.

It had surprised her how much she was jonesing to get into the costume and begin swinging around Manhattan. To be free, kick butt, and look good while flying through the air swinging on her webs. Maybe it was because she had so much fun during her first swing? "Probably because I didn't do much last night."

After the game she and Davida had eaten a couple of shwarmas and then took the train back to Queens. Mayday had made an excuse about Mom wanting her back early and left her best friend so that she could change on the rooftop of her apartment complex.

She had to agree with Miles about one fact: Manhattan was completely spoiled with superheroes. Nobody could make their big break there just hoping to stumble on a crime! She needed to start small-scale, do something in her neighborhood before doing regular patrols in Manhattan at night. That way she would be sure to get the attention of the Champions if not the Avengers!

"Either way, it's going to be one hell of a conversation with Mom." Mayday had wrote down all the positives of her starting her superhero career and listed the likely counter-arguments Mom would lay on her. Her mom was dead-set on her living a 'normal' life, but as Lyja Storm said, she wasn't normal. "Plus it's probably killing Mom inside not knowing what's happening to Dad. At least what news I can bring her will give her some closure on that fron-!"

Something tingled on the back of her skull and Mayday pulled on the web so that she could be flung into the air. As she rise she felt something graze along her right heel. "What the hell!?" She shot a line to the water-tower of a building to her right and swung on top of it. Lifting her right foot she gazed at the torn fabric in wonder. The skin was red and beginning to bleed from a small cut, but otherwise she was completely fine. "Was that a knife or…"

Mayday narrowed her eyes at the opposite building, a clothing store called Ambiance Fashions. The windows were dark and a closed sign hung on the front door, but there was a circular hole on the top part of the glass with spider-web cracks growing around it.

Mayday had seen enough crime dramas to know the signs of a gunshot.

"Okay, Mayday. Nice and steady…" She leapt across the street and stuck onto the building before crawling to the second-floor's windows. "Don't smash the glass unless you want to alert them you're here. This is your big break! Don't screw it up!" Slowly, she put her hand on the bottom frame of the window and pulled it up. To her surprise, the owner left it unlocked. Apparently, this was the storage room for holiday decorations. "Someone's not that worried about burglars." She crawled through the window and then jumped onto the ceiling. "Or fledgling superheroes!"

She could hear some grunts and muffled chatter from the floor below, so she slowly began to crawl down the ceiling above the stairs and saw the light on in the backroom. "Get a move on, girl! Someone could be hurt!"

As she slowly crawled closer she could hear the voices more clearly.

"C-Come on, son! Can't you give me a break? It's a first time offense!"

"First time?" A smooth male voice asked, his tone tinged with a amusement. "Try fifteenth. You've been all around Queens, my friend, shaking down family-owned businesses… outside of your territory."

Mayday felt her mask soak up the sweat on her brow. Her body… was it shaking? "No, stay still! Don't let them see you!" The people talking were too far away for her to get a good look at anything besides their lower bodies. She needed to get closer to see them. Cautiously, she made her way to the door and peeked out of the top edge of the frame.

It was the storage room full of boxes and cabinets for the clothes. But what really drew her attention was the people gathered. Four of them were wearing matching black-and-white suits and Chinese demon masks. She recognized them for what they were: members of the Inner Demons. Her dad had fought them a couple of times and their leader, Mr. Negative. "The hell are they doing in Queens?"

Across from them with his hands up was a guy that looked like he walked out of an old gangster movie. A purple pin-stripe suit, a tie, and a hat. He looked so old with those wrinkles and grey mustache.

And there was the man aiming a pistol at the old gangster.

He didn't have a face or any distinguishable features. His entire head was covered in a black mask that didn't even show where his eyes or mouth were. He wore a brown trenchcoat that was open, revealing a brown belt lined with pouches and two holsters. He wore black boots with silver buckles that didn't even glisten in the fluorescent light, but for some reason Mayday felt them actually winking at her.

This was a supervillain if she ever saw one.

"Shaky, Shaky…" The supervillain shook his head. "Didn't Schultz's brat make it clear? New York City was off-limits. The territory of the Maggia is New Jersey! You'd think that would be simple enough to understand."

"Y-You don't understand, Mr. Nobody!" The now-named Shaky sputtered out. "T-That Ms. Marvel and the new brat, Amulet, are wrecking up our business! Even those Lockdown and Discord wackos have no respect! I-I just thought since Queens was out of the way…!"

"You thought wrong, Shaky." Mr. Nobody sighed. "Still, thank you for letting us know that you were the only idiot. But… Shocker and the Maggia need a reminder about where they stand in things. And the Demons… they asked us to make you one."

Mayday finally noticed her head was tingling when she heard someone shout, "NOBODY! A superhero's here!" She turned her head to see a Demon taking a pistol out of his belt's holster.

"Move, girl! MOVE!" She turned and fired a web at the gun, sticking it onto the Demon's head before dropping to the floor and leaping towards Shaky.

That was when the bullets began to fly.

Her Spider-Sense was sending sharp jolts of pain right into her brain, but her attention was drawn fully to the bark of the guns and the sound of bullets ricocheting right behind her. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" She grabbed Shaky and threw him up. "They're shooting at me! They're really shooting at me!" She fired a web that hit Shaky directly in the chest before sticking him into the ceiling. She didn't bother to turn around and leapt on top of a pile of wooden storage crates. "I need to get out of here! I-I'm going to get shot!"

"Where do you think you're going!?" She turned to her right and saw Mr. Nobody right next to her. He was aiming his handgun at her head and she could almost feel the heat of the barrel.

"H-How did he get here so fast?"

"So, a little Spider-Hero, huh? What, did the boss send you here as a test?" Mr. Nobody cocked his head a bit as he stared at her. "Nah, you must've pissed him off or something."

"I'm going to die. I'm going to die if I don't do something!" Thinking on one's feet was a basketball player's best quality. Making split-second decisions without hesitation aided her plenty on the court.

Time to see if it would do the same for her life.

She kicked her right foot out and swept Mr. Nobody off his feet. He fell back, his gun going off just a few inches over her head. To her amazement, Mr. Nobody just blinked out of existence. There was no flash of light or a sound to mark his passing. One second he was there and the next he was gone.

But she had more to contend to.

The Demons were shouting something in Chinese to one-another and she could tell from the sound of their voices that they were getting close. "Need to distract them!"

There was a pile of clear plastic containers stacked on one-another. Using her right hand, Mayday fired a web on the top one and pulled it down. A second later and the entire stack was being torn apart by a hail of gunfire. "That could've been me!"

She jumped down and hid behind a forklift, hugging herself and trying hard not to cry behind her mask. "Oh God, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die…"

She remembered seeing news clips about heroes dodging gunfire and seeing those still images of Izuku dodging Bakugou's explosions. They were thrilling to watch. Death-defying exploits that got the blood pumping.

Now that she was living it she realized how much it sucked to be the one dodging it.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to curl into a ball, throw up, and cry. That's how scared she was. "How did Dad deal with this!?"

"Hey, girl! You forget me!?"

Mayday held back a shriek as sparks flew and bullets ricocheted off the forklift. "It's not nice to just bail on our first dance!"

Mr. Nobody had found her. Of course he did. The guy had just been knocked off his feet, and since it took this long to get to her his power must be teleportation rather than time-stopping.

"What do I do!? What do I do!?"

The thought of just bailing crossed her mind… But she remembered something.

Izuku Midoriya running to the Slime Villain to save Katsuki Bakugou, his bully. He had no powers and was under no obligation to help an asshole like that, not with real Heroes around to do the job.

But he went head-first into danger anyways.

Despite the likelihood of him dying, he did everything he could to help someone.

Because that's what Heroes do.

"Get it together, girl!" Mayday's hands clenched into fists. "You're a superhero, now! Dad went through this before, and if I freeze up now more people besides me will die!"

She wasn't going to die.

She was going to be a superhero!

Placing her feet squarely onto the floor, Mayday pushed against the forklift. "Sorry, buddy! But I'm not into older guys that wear mom's stockings!" The machine lurched forward before toppling over. Mr. Nobody disappeared and Mayday used this chance to leap over the shelving racks where the Demons were still scouting.

The four had their backs against each other, but there was a bit of space between them. She landed in the center and said, "Surprise!" She pulled two to the ground and leapt up. The remaining two filled the air with gunfire. May backflipped to safety, slinging webs to make the ones she brought down stayed there. "Man, thanks for such a positive response! This is my first time and all…"

She was rambling. None of what she was saying made any sense and all of it sounded corny, but they were making her crack a grin behind her mask. "I'll need to work on my material!"

Firing a web from her right hand to the floor, she bulled and kicked one of the two remaining Demons so hard his mask shattered. She didn't stop as the guy fell to the floor and leapt towards the remaining Demon still trying to aim his gun at her. "...and it's definitely not gonna be my last!"

She punched the Demon in the gut and he stumbled back into a shelving rack. She fired with both her hands at the still-dazed Demon, trapping in a mass of grey goo before doing the same to the now-maskless Demon still trying to get onto his feet.

"Now I've got to deal with Nobody…" He'll be coming soon. He probably wanted to see how he handled the Demons to get a read on her abilities. Now that the danger was past he would strike…

Her Spider-Sense tingled and she crouched low to avoid a hail of bullets. Mr. Nobody was calmly strolling forward, now sporting an assault rifle in each hand. His fingers wouldn't leave the triggers. May could see each bullet whizzing past her head. Her ears filled with the thunderous drum of gunfire interspersed with the tinkling of casings hitting the floor. "I'm actually rather impressed! That was some quick thinking for an amateur!"

She needed to get away from the Demons. They were scum, but they didn't deserve to die. She jumped on top of the shelving rack and felt her Spider-Sense. Automatically, she jumped before Mr. Nobody could riddle her with bullets. He was standing just a few feet away from her!

"Okay Spider-Sense, you're good for telling me when he's going to fire at me and where the bullets are coming from…" She used the ceiling a springboard to land onto the floor of another aisle and rolled just as the area she was standing on became ceramic swiss-cheese. "Tell me where he's going to be!"

Taking a deep breath, Mayday closed her eyes and let her body go on auto-pilot. She was leaping around and ducking, following the intensity of her Spider-Sense and being guided by the strength of the tingles. She felt it get stronger with each passing second. As she crouched onto the ground, she turned her head slightly and waited for it to feel like her head was about to split open.

"THERE!"

She pounced, rearing back her right fist and throwing her whole body into it.

"ARRGH!" Her blow landed true, and she opened her eyes to find her fist digging into Mr. Nobody's ribs, sending him through several wooden crates.

"How's that for an amateur, jerk!?" She shouted in elation as her feet met the ground. He was still recovering, and she needed to keep up the pressure to make sure he stayed down!

This was it! Her first big victory!

"FREEZE!" Mayday's head whirled to the right and saw ten cops with their pistols drawn. "NYPD! You're all in police custody!"

"B-But… I caught the bad guy!" She turned her head to Mr. Nobody to point him out…

...Only for him to be gone.

"Stay where you are! We have questions for…!"

She couldn't stay. The last thing she needed was for the cops to ask her a billion questions and for her first big story to be about her night at the police station! "Sorry officer…" She jumped over them and jumped to the ceiling. Rather than crawl, she ran to the window she opened and shouted, "...But it's way past my bedtime!"

Oh god, did she really say that?

She swung away as fast as she could, ignoring the cop cars that were now parked in front of the store. "Well, that could've gone better…" Wait, did she forget something? "Shit! I forgot to leave my calling card!"

She spent all night making a bunch of 'Courtesy of your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Girl' notes that she would leave for the police. They were supposed to be how she got her name out there!

"Damn it! I screwed up again!" Mayday let out a sigh. "Well… at least I got to beat up a supervillain. That was pretty cool."

But it pissed her off how he got away. She had beaten him! The biggest courtesy he could've done was staying down to get arrested!

"Why do I get the feeling I'm probably going to see that creep again?"

Well, that was enough for one day. Right now she needed to head home and take a nice hot shower before collapsing on her bed.

She had enough crime-fighting for one night.

Mr. Nobody rubbed his ribs as he watched the kid swing out of the building warehouse and the cops come flooding in. "Girl's got some muscle on her. Gotta say, I'm impressed."

It irked him that he didn't kill the Italian, but the girl and cops' interference only delayed things a bit. One call to his boss and some money will be moved around so that a few guards will suddenly go on break, leaving him and the wannabe mobster alone for some personal time together.

"That girl... she's someone I'll have to keep an eye out for." She would almost certainly be put on his to-do list, and Mr. Nobody always did his research before a hit.

Speaking of his boss, he would have to be informed about this.

Sitting on the edge of the roof and watching as the police loaded the Demons and the Italian into a van, he took out his phone and dialed Roderick Kingsley's private number.

His boss answered on the second ring, as per usual. "Did you handle things?"

"Sorry, but not yet." Mr. Nobody could not help but smirk as he continued. "Boss… we might have a problem."

"Thank you so much for bringing me along, Mr. Davis!" Ganke looked out the window of the police cruiser in awe at the various stands, stages, and throngs of people in front of Kingsley Tower. "This beats walking any day!"

"Not so much when the one whose doing the driving is your dad." Miles was resting his head against the window staring at the back of his dad's head. Dad had apparently been assigned to security duty for the Ned Talk happening in a few hours. Not the most dignified position, but he got paid a bit extra for his 'sacrifice'.

Dad had insisted he drove the two when he spotted them walking down the block. Miles had no idea how his dad knew they were heading into Manhattan. "Probably overheard Ganke. Guy can keep a superhero's secret but get him fanboying…"

Dad grinned while momentarily looking over his shoulder, "Hey, you see that Miles? Looks like Ganke doesn't mind being driven around in your old man's squad car!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Like with Hero-Con, Miles wasn't exactly all that excited to be here. Sure he could have fun with Ganke at the various other stalls and one of his favorite rappers, Post Malone, was playing live for charity. However, he especially didn't want to be here now, in his dad's car.

Mostly because it was stuff like this that set him off.

Dad clicked his tongue when he saw a Hobgoblin poster of the old superhero giving a double thumbs-up to the camera. "It's ridiculous… there has to be almost a thousand people attending this thing! It was bad enough that people were cheering superheroes when they were just glorified vigilantes that would rather beat the crap out of each other than become a part of something bigger." He motioned to a stall selling Hobgoblin and Hob-Hero merchandise. "But now they're just glorified celebrities! Only fighting crime whenever its big and important with tons of cameras on them, and screwing up investigations because they need to trend on Twitter!"

Ganke shifted uncomfortably while Miles rolled his eyes. "You don't say, Dad…"

"I mean, look at me! Look at any man wearing the badge." He looked over his shoulder at them and glared. "We've got no superpowers. We put our lives on the line whenever we face some punk with a gun or the latest freak with a lighting zapping out of his fingers, and we don't get all these parades and stuff! We're part of something greater while those superheroes are in it just for themselves!"

"You tell 'em, Dad…"

"Oh, I will! I'm talking to this guy in Hell's Kitchen, Detective North, and he's hoping to get these guys off the street." He stopped the squad car behind a news van. His glare at nothing softened and he chuckled. "But man, listen to me ramble. Listen, go have fun guys."

"Thanks, Mr. Davis!" Ganke got out of the car as quickly as possible. Figured, since he likely didn't want to hear Dad ramble on.

"Finally…" Miles reached for the door handle…

"Hold up, Miles."

"Crap…" Miles let go of the handle and sat back in his seat. "What's up, Dad?"

Dad drummed his fingers on the wheel, staying quiet for a second before speaking, "Look, Miles… I'm sorry if I seemed hard on you yesterday morning."

Well this was rare. His dad rarely apologized for his lectures whenever he decided he needed to dish them out. Mom once explained that Dad was hard on him because he cared, but honestly Miles could think a bunch of other ways love can be showed.

Dad hadn't been necessarily in a 'instil the fear of God' mood, but he did raise his voice a couple of times asking why in God's name did Miles blow off one of his classes. Miles had made up an excuse that he slept through his alarm but Dad twisted it around, saying that his future mattered more than getting another hour of sleep. That he and Mom got up in ungodly hours for their shifts, Mom studied well into two in the morning, and on and on and on.

Still, he should accept the apology and roll with it. "It's fine, Dad. I already told you that I don't plan on doing that again."

"Good. That's what I want to hear." Dad nodded to himself. "Just remember, Miles. Visions is your ticket to so many opportunities. You can cozy it up with all the scientists that graduate from there if you're top of your class and the colleges will be lining up to accept you."

"But I don't want to become a scientist, Dad. Ever think of that?" Sure, he can make an app and if he and Ganke had the tools they can make little gadgets, but that was for fun. Something to keep his hands busy or when he was bored.

His true passion lied with his art.

"Plus, focusing on your grades will keep you out of trouble." Dad waved his finger in the air to emphasize this point. "You're lucky that I'm the one who keeps catching you and Ganke putting up those stickers and putting graffiti on walls. If it had been any other guys on patrol your futures, both of your futures, would've been at risk."

"Dad, I'm not throwing up gang signs or anything. Graffiti is just street art! Everyone does it!"

"Yeah, tell that to the law." His dad scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're too young to just throw your future away for a hobby, Miles. An illegal one at that."

Heat rose to Miles' cheeks. They had this discussion before but his dad just refused to listen. "It wouldn't be illegal if you helped me get permits or something!"

"Miles, I'm not going to go through all that trouble just to encourage a hobby that'll lead to nowhere."

"But I'm really good! And I get better with every new piece!" Miles huffed and crossed his arms. "Uncle Aaron thinks my stuff has promise…"

Suddenly, his dad had turned in his seat to glare at him. It sent a chill down Miles' spine from the intensity behind those eyes. "Aaron is the last person you need to take life advice from, Miles! And I thought I told you to stay away from him!"

God, what was with his dad? Every time Uncle Aaron was brought up, Dad treated him like some sort of hardened criminal just waiting to take Miles hostage! "Why? You never tell me why!" Miles shook his head. "Uncle Aaron is cool, Dad! He actually sees my art and knows how much work I put into it!"

"Your Uncle just wants you to go down the same path he did!" Dad jabbed his finger at Miles. "And I'm not going to let that happen! You've got a gift, Miles, and I'm not going to let you just squander it away like he did!"

"Don't I get a say in this!?" He was yelling, now. Yelling at his dad for the first time in his life. Maybe it was feeling frustrated over his art getting dismissed, or it was feeling he needed to come to Uncle Aaron's defense. It was probably him both needing to let off some steam from living with superpowers and all the anger he felt towards just following his parent's decisions. "You're saying I've got a gift, but you won't even let me use it the way I want! Don't I have the right to decide what that gift is!?"

"YOU DON'T!"

As soon as those words left Dad's mouth, the two fell silent. He watched as Dad's face fell and he sat back in his seat. Miles just sat there, looking at his feet and trying not to let frustrated tears fall down his cheeks.

"Whatever." Miles reached for the handle and got out of the car. "See you later."

"Miles." He stopped from shutting the door to look at his dad. The angry expression on his face was now gone, replaced with a look of soft concern. "I… I love you."

Despite his anger and frustration, Miles couldn't hate his dad. Even if the guy yelled at him and seemed to micromanage his life, his dad was still his dad. "Yeah I know, dad." He gave his dad a small grin before shutting the door.

"Hey, Miles!" Ganke was now running towards him, a container filled with zeppolis in one hand. "What took you so long?"

"Just… some family stuff." Miles tried to assuage his friend's worries with another grin and walked past him. "Come on, we're gonna miss Post Malone if we just hang around here.

"Right, right…"

As they walked past the near sea of superhero fans and tourists that just wanted in on the party, Miles turned to his friend. "You get any texts from that Mayday girl?"

Ganke shook his head. "No. Honestly, I was thinking that maybe I should text her. Y'know, to see how she's doing and all."

"No way!" Miles crossed his arms. "Uncle Aaron told me that doing that just makes you look desperate! What you've gotta do is wait for them to call you!"

"You sure about that?"

"It's what cool guys do." Still, Miles wouldn't mind it if Mayday did call them. Maybe not about superhero stuff, Miles wasn't in the mood to hear her pitch about him becoming a superhero, but maybe to get a bite to eat or something. Maybe he could apologize to her and they could hang out.

"Your uncle is pretty cool…" Ganke then pointed up. "Check it out! There's Daniel Kingsley and Queen Cat!"

Miles glanced up and squinted his eyes to the balcony of Kingsley Tower to see the two. Daniel was dressed in his iconic white suit, waving his hand to the cheering masses below. By his side was Queen Cat, or Lily Hollister outside of the costume, dressed in her inverted Black Cat costume smiling while holding up a Champaign glass.

"It's probably because Black Cat is a thief that she can't sue somebody."

"They're probably rehearsing for the Ned Talk…" Ganke popped another zeppoli into his mouth. "God, what I wouldn't give to be in there right now…"

"Yeah, yeah it's nice but we gotta hurry or we'll miss the concert."

They made it to the stage area where Post Malone was currently singing Sunflower, one of Miles' favorite songs. They were in the edge of the crowd but that was fine for Miles. He was cheering alongside Ganke, his worries and anger melting away as he sung along with dozens of other fans to the lyrics.

This was where he wanted to be. Not in a school he hated being in, not at home being forced to study his butt off, and not swinging around on a web because that was what everyone said he had to do.

Just here, living his life the way he wanted. Meeting nobody's expectations but his own.

"What the hell is that?"

"What?" Miles turned around when Ganke pulled his sleeve. "What's up, man? He's starting Better Now!"

Ganke pointed up and Miles saw what had gotten his friend's attention.

It was a dot in the sky, slowly growing bigger as it came closer. "Is that Mainframe?" Ganke asked, narrowing his eyes. "I can't see it."

Miles did the same, but to his surprise the details were clearer than the pictures he was told to describe on the last line during his latest eye exam.

It was… well, he could only describe the figure as a Hobgoblin. But it wasn't at all like the slightly creepy but beloved icon that Roderick Kingsley popularized. It looked armored, its arms and legs black and shining in the light. It was dressed in an orange tunic that was torn in the sleeves, orange gloves and boots, and a chain mail miniskirt with leather pouches on its hips. The attire made this Hobgoblin look like it actually came from some medieval fantasy. Its orange hood was drawn up, but as the Hobgoblin came closer Miles could see that it wasn't a mask.

It was a helmet.

It was colored a sickly yellow, its nosepiece long and crooked while its chin hung low. The mouthpiece had silver teeth and its 'lips' were formed in a wide sick grin, leaving an open mouth filled with darkness. The helmet's eyes were red and seemed to glow from behind the hood.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Came the cackle of the Hobgoblin, seeming to cut through the hustle and bustle. Post Malone and the other attendees stopped to look, shouting and pointing at the figure. "TRICK OR TREAT, NEW YORK!"

Miles hissed in pain as a sharp stinging sensation entered his brain, making him clutch his head and double over. "Danger! There's danger here!"

"Whoa!" Ganke declared as the Hobgoblin passed over them. People were clapping and cheering, thinking that this was all part of the show. Ganke certainly thought so with those stars in his eyes. "Is there a new Hobgoblin!? That costume really kicks a-!"

"Of course…" The Hobgoblin shouted, causing Miles to glance up and see the costumed person reaching into his bag. He was flying closer to the Kingsley Tower balcony. "I'm bringing…" Miles' head erupted in pain again when the Hobgoblin threw something at the balcony. "THE TRICKS!"

Queen Cat dived on top of David as the entire balcony erupted in a green smoke. Everyone screamed in horror and began pointing at the Hobgoblin. Miles could vaguely hear some of the officers on duty begin yelling orders into their receivers while some people were asking where the hell the superheroes are.

That was a good question. Weren't all of the Hob-Heroes on that balcony?

The Hobgoblin turned around on his glider. "What!? I'm just trying to get into the spirit of the holiday in advance! Now all of you better be good little boys and girls and go home…" The Hobgoblin turned around and something lowered from the bottom of his glider. "Because old Hobby's gotta get his treat!"

Miles pulled Ganke out of the way as a missle shot out of the glider and hit Kingsley Tower. The windows blew out as a plume of flame and debree came out of the impact area, stone and glass falling to the street below. Miles could see that most people had cleared the area a couple of seconds ago, but some unlucky guys got hit with shards of glass. Miles found himself turn away before he could see more, fighting the churning feeling in his stomach.

"Come on, come on!" Ganke was screaming as he held his phone into his ear. "Pick up, Mayday!"

"Where are they!? Where are the damn superheroes!?" Midtown was supposed to be lousy with the guys! Where the hell was American Dream? Daredevil? Or even freakin' D-Man!?

The Hobgoblin's laugh echoed down the street. Miles' body was shaking. What do they do? What can they do!?

For a second, Miles looked up at the Hobgoblin and thought about going up there to do something. He had crazy Spider-Powers! Surely he could do something

Then he thought about the fact that the Hobgoblin had bombs, missiles, and God knew what else. Also the fact that the Hobgoblin was over twenty stories up and in the middle of the air. And the fact that Miles had never been in a real fight in his life.

In all likelihood, he would become sidewalk pizza.

"Never mind. I should not do that."

"Ganke, we need to…"

Suddenly, the Hobgoblin cried in pain and Miles watched as a familiar figure raced past the front of the supervillain.

It was Mayday, dressed in full costume with her right leg outstretched and hands clenched into fists. Hobgoblin was spinning in the air as she shot a web onto another building and began swinging around for another go.

"Sorry, chuckles! But I'm afraid that the only treat you're getting… is a butt-kicking from the Spectacular Spider-Girl!"

The hero had finally arrived.

Meanwhile… On Earth 2018.1610:

Mitsuki watched as her son continued to eat his bell peppers and beef at speeds a marathon eater would be jealous of.

"It's like that attack never happened." She chewed on her green peppers while closing her eyes. "I know kids are desensitized nowadays but this is freakin' ridiculous."

Then again, she wasn't one to talk. While the neighborhood moms liked to call Mob Eisteiku the crime-infested asshole of Musutafu, Mitsuki knew that it had been worse when she was a kid. Mugging wasn't a possibility in the old neighborhood, it was guaranteed and the welcoming package for any 'tourists'. Gang violence was common, drug deals took place on the streets, and cops along with the occasional Hero were in on the take.

Hell, in her first year of high school she saw someone get stabbed while she was walking to the subway station and just went around the bleeding man's body. All she could think of was that it was possibly over some flour in a coke bag or some gang initiation. Back then, she had been laser-focused on just keeping up her perfect attendance and not getting caught on anything that would put her in the news.

"And yet, like an idiot, I was still moonlighting as a freakin' Villain."

But idiot or not, the undeniable fact is that her nighttime activities were part of the reason why she and Masaru were now in this neighborhood among the other middle-class families with a son attending the premier Hero school of the country.

"But Katsuki didn't experience that kind of life. The most violent thing he's ever watched was Heroes beating the crap out of Villains!" But here he was just a few days after nearly dying at the hands of the brat's minions, eating his bell peppers and beef without any problems.

"Katsuki, for the love of god stop eating so fast." Mitsuki sighed when her son glared at her. "Do you want to choke on your food?"

"The faster I'm over this crap the faster I'm back to working out." Despite his words Katsuki's pace slowed a bit. "I can't get soft just because the school wants to coddle us for a few days!"

Well, at least that was something she could be grateful to the school for. "They're not doing it to coddle you, Katsuki. They just don't want you wearing yourself out after that whole Villain attack."

"A Villain attack I was involved in, because that bastard thought endangering my son and those kids was a great practical joke!"

Her son rolled his eyes. "God, none of us freakin' died! I'm perfectly fine, and I'm just pissed that I couldn't bring down that big bastard by myself!"

"Well, at least you're learning to let others help you."

"Please, without me those losers Icy-Hot and Deku would've bit the dust!"

"I'm just saying that it's something that you should do more often." Mitsuki pointed her chopsticks at Katsuki. "You're going to be a Hero, Katsuki. One of the best so long as you keep pushing. But you can't do it alone…" She noticed the rising of his Adam's Apple and added, "...and they can't do it without you."

"...Whatever." Katsuki brought his dish to the sink and began to pick up the soap.

"Hey, we didn't get that dishwasher for appearance's sake!" She pointed at the appliance in question. "Put it in there!"

"It's just one plate, hag!"

On reflex she flicked one of her chopsticks at his head. "Don't call me a hag, you brat! You know the rules!"

When she was a kid, her family didn't have a dishwasher. She had to wash all the dishes herself, and if there was so much as one grease stain her dad gave her a hard meaty smack across the face.

She paid for that dishwasher despite Masaru's protests because she had made a promise to herself that her child wouldn't have to go through anything she had.

Katsuki growled at her but did he was told. Once he slammed the dishwasher door shut he stomped past the table and towards his room.

"Katsuki…" Mitsuki put on an easy-going smile "If you need to talk to anyone about what happened during that Villain attack… you know you can talk to me, right?"

"Talking's for weaklings!" Katsuki declared, pointing to himself with his thumb and glaring at her. "I kicked ass during that whole lame attack! You and the school don't need to treat us like we're freakin' glass!"

Before she could shout after him, he was already in his room and slamming the door behind him. For a moment, she almost laughed. He was just as headstrong and independent as she was when she was younger. Watching him was almost like staring at a little morror of herself.

"But why can't you understand, Katsuki? I just want to help you…" Mitsuki's hands clenched into fists. "And I already had by making it clear to those bastards what'll happen the next time they try this crap!"

Even that bastard, All For One, knew that she was under his thumb for the sake of her family. If it were to come out that she had been a Villain during her teenage years everything would fall apart. Masaru would be fired from his job for being married to a criminal, Katsuki would be bullied and his Hero career would tank, and their status in this hero-obsessed world would be in jeopardy.

All her work… everything she had sacrificed… all of it would go would up in flames.

"I will do anything to protect my family…" She glared at the space in front of her, imagining that All For One was in front of her. She swiped through the image as though she were wearing her claws. "No matter the cost."

To Be Continued...

Notes: Time for a new chapter! Special thanks goes to reppuzan for the beta!

I've been trying hard to make sure that Mayday and Miles' voices rang true in this chapter. Like, you can understand both of their reasons for doing what they do and nobody looks too bad. Of COURSE Mayday would kinda freak out about getting shot at, and Miles is totally justified in his feelings of frustration about everyone pushing their expectations on him. I think Miles' story is something a lot of people had to deal with during their childhood, feeling as if they are chafing under the weight of what their parents and society wants of them and feeling as if they don't have their own voice.

Same with Mitsuki and Phil. They are Villains, of course, but their reasons for doing so are kinda sympathetic even if you don't agree with the road they are taking.

Had a lot of fun writing Mayday's first supervillain fight since I was able to do my own spin on Mayday's first official issue. Mr. Nobody is very much a Marvel character and part of Mayday's rogues gallery, as is the Snatcher though he's from Miles' new comic under Saladin Ahmed.

Mostly because someone had to get those people for Mysterio.

Also, AlexDrawsAgain, or Art James: Reloaded on Tumblr, of Peter Parker: Foreign Exchange Student fame was kind enough to do a commission for me. It shows off my version of Mayday, so go and check it along with the rest of his stuff out! It's seriously cool and I'm so happy I was able to get his talent!

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed that adventure! Make sure you check out the TV Tropes Page and add whatever you see fit!

Be sure to leave a review!