1
It had started out as any other morning at Vision Academy for Miles. He rushed to finish the homework he should have done the night before, making his writing barely legible before stuffing it into his backpack and leaving the dorms. He hopped down the stairs two at a time, almost running into some girls as he rounded a corner. He yelled a quick apology before continuing on his way.
He made it into the school with time to spare, so he slowed down to a walk as he made his way to his class. His eyes scanned familiar faces he kind of noticed from his classes, nodding to a few people who he had become closer to after the rocky first two weeks. He ducked into class just before the bell rang to avoid the mob of people the hallways would soon be full of.
He sat down in his usual seat, taking out his homework and stretching back in his chair. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone he hadn’t seen before, sitting in the seat across the aisle from him. It was a girl, who wore a bored expression on her face as she looked at her phone. She made him feel odd, somehow. Like something wasn’t quite right. Miles’ attention was soon drawn from her as one of his friends greeted him and sat down on the other side of him.
Class began then, keeping his mind focused on the mind-numbing tasks the teacher had them do. At the end of the period, there was some time left to do the homework the teacher had assigned that day. He pulled out his textbook and almost began to work when he noticed some movement from the new girl.
She was twisting around in her seat, scanning the room for something. He realized quickly she didn’t have a textbook yet. The girl hesitated for a few moments, looking around the room to the teacher’s desk. She was nervous.
Miles picked up his textbook and slid it onto her desk, giving her a friendly smile. “You can borrow mine for now.”
She looked at him, nodding meekly before taking the book and whispering a “Thank you.”
The rest of class passed without incident, Miles working from his friend’s textbook. When the bell rang to signal the end of class, the girl quietly handed him back his textbook and went on her way. Miles didn’t really think about her for the rest of the day.
After night had hit the city and Miles had gotten frustrated with his homework. He pulled on his Spider-Man suit and took off.
Flying over the city, letting the air take his stress away was the best part of the job. After a few minutes of surveying the streets, he landed on the corner of an office building, looking out at the twinkling lights of Manhattan. Everything seemed quiet, thankfully, until he heard the sound of glass breaking, then some laughter. It didn’t sound like the run-of-the-mill drunk, so he went to investigate.
He landed on the top of an apartment building across the street from the noise. He could see three kids playing around behind a Chinese restaurant. He watched them pass around a bottle full of something, most likely liquor, and dig through someone’s bookbag. Out they pulled some bottles of spray paint and began painting the walls in bright colours. The vigilante couldn’t see what they were painting, so he changed his angle.
He stopped on top of a fire escape, looking down at the kids. They were laughing and joking around as they painted the brick walls. There was one kid, someone with their hood up, that was actually doing a pretty good job. After a few minutes of admiring their work, Miles supposed he better put an end to their scheme and lowered himself down to them silently.
“Pretty good style there, kids.” He spoke up making said kids jump and face him. They all had some sort of facial covering on, the boy noticed. “But I think you better head home now. And leave behind that bottle, too.”
“Hell no.” The one wearing a fashion face mask, like in an edgy anime, blurted out. “We worked hard to steal this crap.”
“Stealing?” The vigilante responded, setting himself down on the ground. “Now that’s not good.”
The smaller kid to his left muttered a “Nice going, idiot.” as the kids shifted nervously. Before Spider-Man could respond again, the one wearing the anime mask yelled “Scatter!”
It was a flurry of movement as two of them raced down opposite ends of the alley. Before he could even think about going after one, he was lifted into the air by a crushing force. The third kid, wearing a colourful respirator mask, was just staring at him.
He realized what was going on fairly quickly. “You’re telekinetic?!” Spider-Man yelled, surprised. The kid didn’t respond as a car honked from one end of the alley. The vigilante stayed suspended as the final kid rushed off and into the car. He dropped to the ground in a daze as the car sped away.
Miles had woken up the next morning barely believing the night before had happened. The only thing that convinced him was his bruises from being dropped. Random people having powers was nothing new to him, but it still made the boy curious. Who the hell was that kid?
He went through his day in kind of a hazy state, sore and confused. He could barely focus in class, and was asked if he was feeling alright every twenty minutes. He made it to the end of the day and collapsed in his bed. He made a decision to go out again that night, regardless of how sore he was. He was going to revisit the scene and try to find any clues.
The scene was clean of the bag or the bottle from the night before, but the paint on the walls was still there, along with some broken glass. He looked over the artwork, mostly random words or tags, until he got to a half-finished piece. There was a broken birdcage near the bottom of the wall, and a barely-done, multi-colour bird flying away from it. Simple, but nice all the same. The artist part of Miles was pleased.
Until he was pushed up against it.
The crushing feeling from the night before held him to the wall as he turned his head, as to not break his nose. He saw the face of the kid from the night before, eyebrows raised and amusement dancing in their eyes. They were most likely smiling under their respirator.
“Curious, little spider?” The kid said through the mask.
“Of course, it’s pretty good. If only you hadn’t stolen all that stuff.” Spider-Man attempted to chuckle.
The kid stared at him for a few seconds, before rolling their eyes. The vigilante was lowered, and finally, the force let go. He wheezed as he tried to get the breath back into his lungs.
“Curiosity killed that cat, y’know.”
“And satisfaction brought it back. Care to satisfy my curiosity?” The boy completed, rubbing his chest.
“And ruin the fun? Not a chance.”
The vigilante got up then, turning to face the stranger. They had moved to sitting on the first level of the fire escape. “Catch me if you can, little Spider.”
They launched themselves off the railing and into the side of the other building, using their powers to propel them up and over the top. Spider-Man followed, only to be met with an empty rooftop. Spray painted on the side of an air conditioning unit were the words ‘Till next time. The vigilante cursed, scanning the area, only to come up with nothing.
“If it’s a game you want, then it’s a game you’ll get,” Spider-Man said to the open air, smiling despite himself. This was going to be fun.