2013.08.04 - New Costume and Almost Webs

The next day comes and goes. Waiting in the darkness is a sealed envelope: "Duty calls. Be here in Forty-Eight Hours. - S.S." So forty-eight more hours pass and Scarlet is waiting in the darkness like before. This time he is wearing the red and black spandex number. Sitting nearby him is a briefcase.

Scarlet paces a little bit as he waits around for The Spider to show up. The kid would probably need a few minutes to climb. At least Scarlet could joke about exercise being good for him since this is the third time in a week he's had to make the climb.

The darkness consumes the city like before, the spotlight remains on the huge building sign rather than the roof. People drove about below, the sound of vehicles move through the night, helicopters fly overhead. New York is singing its song. Scarlet wraps his fingers against a nearby wall as he listens to the usual sounds. "I hope you're not leaving me a note kid."

The Spider sort of shimmers into view as he drops his camouflage, from his head down to his feet, and says, "Nope. I just wanted to catch my breath before I showed up." Not that he likely needed to much, or he would have been heard.

"Tell me why you want to be a hero short stuff. And this is the one time I will need you to be honest with me," Scarlet's words and tone are rife with seriousness. Typically the hero quips about various things that are filled with sarcasm. Tonight is not the case. The brown discerning eyes can be felt even behind the mask as Scarlet stares at The Spider.

"And I mean one hundred percent, completely honest, you will swear it on the head's of your children's children's children, honest," he adds.

The Spider sits on the building ledge, though away from the light of the sign of course. After a moment he says, "I didn't, at first. I just wanted to go to school and be normal. My best friend said I should be, that I should use my powers to help, but I had nightmares of supervillains showing up in my dorm looking for me. But then, an armoured car was robbed right outside my apartment. People were hurt, my mom was hurt, and I was right there and could've stopped it. Realized my friend was right."

Pausing for a moment Scarlet just listens to the story. With a grim voice he says, "I can't promise you that won't happen. One small mistake, someone tracks you and boom your nightmare is a reality. You can do your best to make sure it won't happen. It may mean alienating yourself from the world. Distancing yourself from most friends and some family may become part of your life because you will probably have to lie to them to keep them safe. Are you prepared to do all of that? Because if you can't you should get out now," the elder spider continues just testing the kid. His heart seems to be in the right place but Scarlet can't be so sure just yet.

The Spider is quiet a moment more as he thinks about it, and says, "I hate the lying, but I'm doing it all the time now anyway. My dad thinks I've abandoned him twice, running away when we've been places that've been attacked. He doesn't know I was protecting him... he'd hate it if he did, he hates superheroes and mutants."

"And you're going to be dealing with this for a while. One day he may know and the time may or may not be right. Are you willing to keep doing what you do to keep everyone safe whilst still in the costume?" again Scarlet thinks the kid's heart is in the right place. Still he's going to press the kid more. "Would you keep fighting if your dad says enough is enough and cuts you out of his life?"

Now that's a tough question. It takes Spider a moment of thinking, looking down at his hands absently, but then he nods a little. "Yeah, I would. 'Cause if someone gets hurt and I could've stopped it, then it's my fault, isn't it?"

"Not neccessarily. If you're there to witness it then it can be your fault. One of the other things about being a hero is you can't be everywhere at any time. Sometimes you're not going to be able to save the world in a single swing. Maybe most of your career it will be a school's worth of people instead of a small state or country's worth. You can't compare yourself to others in the business like it's a competition. You do what you can, and you do what you can because you know what you bring to the table not everyone else can," Scarlet says trying to take the kid off of the desire some heroes feel the need to be a hero every second of their lives.

Taking the kid in Scarlet says, "And never feel ashamed to have a life outside of the mask. I think it keeps us grounded and it reminds us what we fight for. Plus it is nice to have something to return to," his words are soft and honest.

The Spider nods to that as he considers it, and then grins under his mask, "I guess you're right. And the trouble usually comes to me anyway. I go to look at video games, a crazy guy with lightsabers attacks and brings Mario and Link and Kirby and a zombie to life. I go to a zombie movie marathon, demons attack and start eating people. I go to a 4th of July party and... I dunno even how to explain what happened there."

"It'll always get stranger and weirder. Trust me. I work with the Fantastic Four, you haven't seen strange until that. And a friend of mine is an adopted God so ummm yeah it will never get calmer," he smiles then looks down at the briefcase then up to the Spider.

"Spider-Man and his legacy was built on tragedy. As much as he might joke a great tragedy lies hidden in that mask. I know it by accident. How Iron knows it I have no idea," he pauses taking the briefcase. Looking back to the Spider, "Your Mom getting hurt touches on that lesson. It's not my right to give it but when Spider-Man is ready to, he will give it to you. Until then I can only provide you with some advice and what will probably be your first lesson," Scarlet says before tossing the briefcase toward the spider. There's no trick to the briefcase and it opens like a normal briefcase. Inside is a black and red costume. "I designed this look when I thought me and Spidey were going to be buds. I wanted something that matched his eyes to show solidarity but I get the feeling it'll look better on you," the costume is actually fit to The Spider's size. Before the teen can ask Scarlet replies, "Security feeds and fantastic four tech was able to give me an approximate size. You'll need to redo it when you get bigger, stronger, taller, that sort of thing but it's a start."

The Spider catches the briefcase easily, despite not expecting the throw. He definitely has Spider reflexes. Opening it carefully, he pauses again as he sees the costume. "This is awesome! Thank you!" He pulls it partially out of the briefcase to get a good look. Then he nods quickly as he puts it back and says, "I bet I can learn to sew and stuff by then. Thanks again."

Scarlet smirks under his mask and pulls up his wrist. Removing one webshooter than the other, "The first one I toss you is the working one. The second one is the broken one. When you and Spidey meet up you can dissect it, both learn about it since mine is modified. I've got the tools to make more of this and the webbing. Think of this like the military. People will take apart and put back together their guns. This is your gun and you'll be doing the same to fix the one that's jammed," he looks to the young Spider. An approving and encouraging nod is given to the teen, "Don't be shy. These are yours now."

The Spider blinks under his mask, catching the webshooters, "Oh, wow, I thought Spider-man was going to get me webshooters." He catches them, though, and examines both. Though his face his hidden, his curiosity is obvious as he examines the webshooters.

"Mine work differently than his in one way. He can create only the webline. With these you can shoot an orb if you connect with it then the target will be cacooned in webbing. It'll eat through your web supply like nothing else and if you miss you're down a web cartridge," Scarlet says letting The Spider know the difference between the two types of web shooters. A sigh escapes his lips, "Me and Spider-Man don't talk much. I'd like to see that he has an updgrade option available if he wants it. Him taking apart the web-shooter with you will force him to see it."

Silence moves between them and Scarlet fidgets once or twice. Eventually he says to Spider, "Don't tell him I said any of that stuff. That's our little secret, okay?" Scarlet knows the webshooters may be crossing a line but he sees no other alternative. "And I'm not telling you how they work so I wouldn't suggest using them to get home. Sorry kid," the last part is filled with genuine sympathy.

The Spider nods quickly and says, "Promise, I won't say anything except what you said at first." He puts the working one on his wrist and plays around with it a moment, ending up shooting off a web that attaches to the Metlife sign. "Whoops." Then he nods and says, "Yeah, good idea. It's ok, I'm getting good at rooftop running."

Smirking at the webline Scarlet tears it into pieces with a quick tug at it. Then he's stuck opening and closing his hand as it is extremely sticky. Putting that hand behind his back a smile pulls at his lips under the mask, "It's not that I don't want to teach you...I just think Spidey should. Some things should be left," then his voice gets extremely low, "to the original." There's the clone sadness and resentment Scarlet would face every day of his life until Spidey died.

The Spider nods quickly and says, "I understand. I bet he'd be mad anyway if he went to any trouble planning things or making me webshooters and then it wasn't needed." He examines the non-working webshooter a moment then, before he looks up and says, "You never answered before. Were you bitten by a spider with a number on its back? You'd think spider powers have to be pretty rare too, but there's a bunch of us, so wondered if we all got our powers the same way."

Scarlet's brows furrow as he hears that. Sighing he grabs Spider's wrist, the one with the one good web-shooter. "Give it. I'd be happy to give you these but if he's making them for you then disassemble the broken one of mine. Tell him I can't fix it and make a project out of it with him. You'll learn it and that will help you maintain yours," Scarlet really doesn't want to take back the webshooet but if Spidey is making the kid his own...then far be it from Scarlet to step in between that lesson.

The Spider looks up and nods quickly, passing the webshooter back, "I don't know for sure if he is, but he said he'd 'set me up'. Might just be giving me the plans to make one, I don't know." He doesn't sound upset in the least, though, more relieved at the lack of anything that might make Spider-man mad again. "Thanks, though."

"I think we both want the same thing but it's a lot to take in knowing two people, one a stranger to you, know some things about yourself that they probably shouldn't know. If anything you're the innocent one in all of this and got caught in the crossfire," Scarlet says sympathetically. "I'm sorry you have to deal with it."

The Spider considers that, and then says, "Yeah, I guess so. It makes sense. But I think you're right too. We're all connected, somehow. Even if you didn't get your powers the same way, we've mostly all got the same ones with just little differences. We should stick together."

Nods to The Spider, "We should but it's convincing everyone else," Scarlet says slipping the web-shooter back on. He gives a smile to The Spider even though it goes unseen, it could be felt. "I hope I'm right about you. Don't disappoint me okay?" Scarlet says launching a webline out to a building below. "You going to be okay with all of this? The power and the responsiblity of being The Spider?"

The Spider nods quickly again and says, "I won't disappoint you. I'll be fine, yeah. Thanks, again." He waves and then opens up his new briefcase one more time, stuffing the broken webshooter inside. Now to find somewhere safe to change into his new costume.