Mega-Byte
“Alright, that looks right,” Riley muttered as they leaned back in their seat, observing their newest creation. Well, an upgraded creation.
They loved tech, and incorporated different things into their daily life. Such as some spider-bots. The prototype were pretty decent still, as Riley still had them all across the state, but these new ones looked more akin to spiders. It was difficult to cram tech inside something so small, but they’d managed. Their new creation spurring to life, scrawling around like most spiders. Riley varied the designs to blend in more authentically. Daddy long legs, black widows, jumping spiders, crab spiders, a little of everything.
They got spare parts from their lab at work, stuff no one really missed. And it let them create an army of robotic spiders.
Sounded a little menacing now that they thought about it.
Their spider army was really just for surveillance purposes. They wanted to keep an eye on the world around them, make sure people stayed safe. And it helped alert them to any crimes that would be happening. thankfully, unlike New York, there weren’t too many gigantic supervillains to deal with.
Which left the city relatively peaceful, but there were exceptions from time to time.
“Riley! We’re going to be late!” A voice shouted from downstairs.
They sighed, letting their creation roam around their room as they slid away from their desk, and stretched before getting up. Riley moved to grab their wallet and keys, taking a quick glance into the mirror to fix their unruly dark hair. Pretty much giving up almost immediately. They trotted downstairs where their parents were waiting.
“Sorry,” they quickly apologized. “I wasn’t paying attention to the time.”
Their mother shook her head, but didn’t really complain. “You’re lucky we leave early for these things. Come on, let’s go.” She ushered them out, their father following close behind. They were all quick to hop in the car, driving off immediately.
“You hardly see your siblings outside of reunions, you’d think you’d be better about your time,” their father muttered.
“I see Ryan enough. Why aren’t you harassing him about not being here?” Riley complained.
“Ryan has work sweetheart. And they aren’t exactly in the engineering field like the rest of us,” his mother reminded.
Great. That meant it was unfortunately going to be them alone without the comic relief of their brother. Could something happen so they could be excused?
Riley’s parents were both brilliant engineers and scientists. They worked remotely most times, but often flew around the country to assist in different programs to further technological research. Besides Ryan, Riley and the rest of his siblings followed suit. They became scientists. It’s why Riley still lived at home. They all technically did until they got married and moved out.
It was basically their center of operations. Not everyone understood, but it had been Riley’s whole life. Unorthodox and bizarre. It likely helped them adjust to all the massive changes in their life. Such as-
“Merge right, crazy car behind us.”
Their dad listened, merging right as a car barreled by where there car just was, also immediately crashing into the nearest light pole.
Ouch.
“Smart intuition you have there,” their mom complimented.
“It’s not intuition, it’s my spider-sense!” Riley reminded. “I’ve told you about that.”
Their mother just laughed. “Such a wild imagination dear.”
In the decade since gaining spider powers, Riley could not convince anyone they had it. They couldn’t explain why, but no matter how much evidence they presented, everyone seemed oblivious to their existence as Mega-Byte. The hero and the civilian were truly separate, what a nightmare. Blessing?
Annoyance.
Surely it was more of an annoyance.
At least they weren’t worried about people hurting their loved ones over it. Riley honestly wondered what exactly caused the phenomena, but none of their research had really expressed any possibilities. Perhaps they were looking in the wrong place?
“So, what has Taylor been up to? Besides this schmooze event?” Riley asked.
“It’s not a-“ their mother caught herself, as if realizing that they were going to a schmooze event. “She’s made massive leaps in bioengineering. This time, she found ways to alter the genetic makeup of animals and food to create healthier alternatives to regular GMO’s.”
“Awesome...”
“You could at least pretend to care,” their mother sighed again. “You used to love seeing your sister.”
Key word? Used to.
Riley drifted into silence at their mother’s probing, and the rest of the car ride fell into silence during the long drive into the city. At least being in the city meant they had a chance to slip away later. If crime appeared, Riley would dip.
Anything to avoid this gathering of scientists.
They should have been excited to meet people of varying fields, but Riley had found themselves drifting away from science as a whole. Not that they’d ever say that to their parents. Not that they’d try to change things.
As much as their passion for science seemed to diminish, it made their life easier. It just sucked that there had to exist a trade off. They could handle it for a bit, maybe talk about some tech they developed.
The drive just felt like it kept going, Riley’s eyes bouncing from building to building, drinking in the city lights that flowed under the waning sun. They could see small snippets of life through these glances, see the people who likely lived so much more normal lives than Riley’s.
When Riley’s dad finally parked, it meant they had to follow. So Riley followed their parents dutifully to the event. And without even being asked, they put on an excited front, pretending to truly support this whole ordeal. It was the only way to get through it after all.
Pretend.
Riley watched their parents show the invites when they reached the building, and braced themself for it all. Oscorp. A company that had spread it roots across the country. And where Riley’a journey began.
They hated it there. More than anything. Yet, they ignored the cold chill that clung to their frame as they entered with their parents, holding their breath as they entered a field of scientists.
Part of their heart sung a little seeing so many brilliant minds all mingling in one room, but the rest of them faltered.
“Ah, Riley, we’re going to greet your sister, feel free to wander about. You’ll likely meet some other interesting scientists.” Their father informed, then quickly leaving without even bothering to confirm with their child.
Of course.
They scanned the crowd of scientists, but nothing really compelled them to stay. So they weaved through the crowd, blending it enough as they found a side exist rather quickly. And after equipping their web shooters, Riley found themselves on the roof of the building, far away from it all.
Times like this, they wondering if that New York Spider-Man dealt with stuff like this. With these extremely awkward gathering. Wondered if science seemed to die in their eyes day by day.
If they ever ended up in New York, maybe they’d ask. Maybe there Riley would find a reason for everything. Or… maybe not.
Riley had long since accepted this role they fell into, and the life they’ve followed. These fleeting moments of calm were nice enough. And their mind wondered what next?
As they sat there, sitting on the edge of the rooftop, Riley felt something crawl onto their hand, and glanced over, seeing a spider.
A soft smile worked it’s way onto their lips, lifting their hand up to admire it. A tan jumping spider crawled across their fingertips, the small fuzzy thing excited to dance there.
“Have you seen my robotic buddies?”Riley asked it softly, letting it crawl more. “I made a few that look a bit like you.” A soft laugh escaped their lips, finding a moment of joy in such a tiny creature.
Riley was always fond of spiders, much to others dismay, which is why one area of science really never seemed to dull for them. Their robotic spiders more than proof of that. And it seemed ever since they were young, spiders liked being around Riley. Perhaps that’s what attracted the spider that bit them.
Despite what ensued afterwards, their love of arachnids only grew, incorporating different spiders into their costume. It made them much more versatile, and it seemed fitting.
Their phone buzzed in their pocket, and they picked it up, seeing an alert from one of their spiders, then a bunch of alerts. Guess it was time to do some crime fighting.
“Goodbye little spider.” They gently set the spider down on the rooftop, and then let their body fall, equipping their suit as they fell from the sky, feeling the nanotechnology crawl over their body, encasing it in the suit they’ve sword by for years. And as they near the end of their plummet, the ground growing closer with each second, they reached out, and triggered their web shooters. As soon as their web was stuck, their body snagged, and they went flying through the air.
And when they soared, they felt alive again, their heart thrumming in their chest as they glided through the city, their webs pulling them in the direction of the newest threat to their home. Or at least, to the city that made them into the person they’d become.
The wind whistled by them, ringing in their ears as their senses started to go wild, approaching where their spiders had reported impending danger. And danger indeed.
Flying around Riley’s city was a crook they’d never seen before, but recognized in an instant.
Green Goblin.
That was a villain from New York! What was he doing here?
Riley shook off questions, and spring unto action, shooting a web at the Goblin’s glider, forcing momentum to swing their body closer. Judging from the way the goblin startled, Riley’s appearance wasn’t expected, a cold, unhinged voice reaching for them.
“Who are you?”
“You’re the one caught in my web, I should be asking the question’s,” Riley retaliated at the goblin flung the spider’s body to a nearby building, Riley landing gracefully against the glass. “The name’s mega-byte. Now… what are you doing in my city?”
Green goblin stared at Riley, paused in his chaos at the prospect of another spider that came to plague is brazen harassment of the city. “Another one… there’s two of you?”
“What are you doing in my city?” They reiterated, shooting their webs out again, this time, yanking Green Goblin off their glider. Suspending them midair with their webs. “Tell me or I drop you.”
Green Goblin didn’t believe Riley’s words, assuming wrongly so that they’d be just like Spider-man.
Riley didn’t follow the same moral code as Spdier-Man, and was happy to demonstrate, snapping their webs from Green Goblin’s body at his continued silence, and watching him plunge into the city below. They wouldn’t let the Goblin die, but they did watch at the man seemed to realize death was a possibility with this spider.
But before Green Goblin’s body hit the pavement, Riley’s webs caught him, sure to catch before before any bounce from the bed could rocket his head into the ground, flinging his body back up to them, and webbing him to the nearby building. “What are you doing in my city?”
This time, he answered. “I’m just passing through. I thought my spider was here, but I guess I was caught in another web.” He seemed more amused than alarmed. Surprised by the drop, but not shaken from it. “I shall be on my way!”
Riley was about to ask what he meant, when the Goblin’s glider crashed through the gods underneath his feet. Riley watched as smoke appeared and the Green Goblin vanished, leaving them more confused and distraught than anything.
None of their spiders picked up anything either, as if the Green Goblin vanished into thin air.
Riley stayed their for a moment, confused, disoriented, and unsure what to do.
“What the fuck?”