Sunday started early for me as I managed to pull myself out of bed at normal person hours as opposed to sleeping through half of the day and started off by frying up some eggs and bacon for myself for breakfast.
I only spent about 2 hours in the dojo yesterday before being told to get out of there so I wouldn't tire out my muscles too much on the first day. Of course, I signed up for a month subscription as well and could now go over at any time during the day when it's open, which I will be doing at least a few times a week from now on.
I was very much a fan of how they did things. Even if it was run by an evil organization. I'm not sure if they do this for everyone or only me since I said I didn't care for the sport of it all but rather than teaching me the rigid techniques and style Ryusei instead tried to beat the basics into me and teach me to be adaptive and go for weak points on my opponents to end fights fast rather than fight for show.
Naturally I didn't slack off on my dungeon duties either and after the dojo went right over to buy another full set of protective clothing from a new store I hadn't visited and then went home to enter the dungeon. Something which I kind of regret right now as my muscles are sore as hell. The few hours at the dojo had done more for me than spending an entire day in the dungeon, somehow.
The enemies on the fourth level were still weak but in large groups they were a threat and occasionally there would be one or two mixed in that were stronger than the rest which kept me on my toes. I didn't clear out the fourth level completely since it was a bit larger than the past three, but I made good progress, I should be able to finish it off today.
At least if I don't have any major distractions…
And just as I was thinking that while spreading butter on some toast, I heard the doorbell ring.
[Expecting visitors?] Gali who was hovering over the couch watching TV asked, floating up to poke her head over the backrest.
"Nope." I put the toast down and wipe my hands before going over to open the door. The only person who regularly visits is…
"Let me in before someone sees me." Gwen mutters, standing on the other side, arms crossed and hood up covering her head, looking around as if she was being tailed.
I move aside and she quickly hurries inside. "What's with the secrecy? You come over like every week, I don't think anything would happen if someone saw you visiting me."
"Umm, no, nothing really. I guess… nevermind. Dad just left for work, so I came over right away." She says hesitantly, making her way over to my kitchen, where she grabs the toast I just made and bites into it. "Munch, sorry, I already ate like twice the normal amount I usually eat for breakfast, and I'm still hungry."
I was looking forward to that… well I can always make more, I can kinda guess what this is about.
I watch over her eating quietly for a few seconds before I go past her and check on my eggs. They are ready so I can take them off the stove. I give her a bit to fidget and shuffle nervously in silence while I continue my cooking.
Usually she is pretty direct, but today not so much. Finally, after a bit of hesitation, she pushes her fingers together and looks to the side.
"So," She starts silently before blurting out a question. "Would you still talk to me if I turned into a mutant spider girl?"
Finished with the question, she slides down her chair as if to make herself smaller before grabbing the toast again and nibbling on it while waiting for an answer.
I blink, this is it. "That's a really strange question to throw at someone. Is this one of those 'would you still love me if I was a worm' things I've seen on the internet?"
She almost chokes, coughing to clear her throat before speaking. "No, you idiot, it's a serious question."
"Well, if it's serious, then I need some more specifics. Define 'mutant spider girl' for me. Like, are we talking about an eight legged, car-sized, fanged and furry creature or just a human with spider powers? Cause if it's the first one, then I am about to go get my bug spray and spray it in your face."
"More so the second one, but uh… wait, let me just show you." She says, suddenly pushing the chair back and getting up before walking to the nearest wall. "Just promise me you won't freak out, okay?"
"I'm assuming the worst, but sure."
She takes a deep breath before putting both her hands on the wall. Followed by her leg, and then the other as she starts climbing up the wall like a… spider. Finally, she reaches the ceiling, now being completely upside down.
"So…" She starts, but trails off, worry clear in her eyes. Does she think I'm going to scream and kick her out? Actually, that's probably the normal reaction here.
"Can you see if the top of my fridge and the wall mounter drawers are dirty from there? I don't clean up there that often."
"They are a little dusty, but-Hey! That's not the point here." She shouts before calming down. "You're not freaking out?"
"Internally, maybe a little, but mostly I'm just wondering if you are going to molt or something."
Gwen laughs at my words and drops from the ceiling onto the floor. Despite dropping several feet, she makes no sound as she lands. "My theory is that this happened at Oscorp. Remember when I got bit by something while we were at Doctor Connors' exhibition? I was thinking back, and I started feeling really sick just shortly after that and really the only thing small enough there that could have caused it was the spider that didn't want to show itself to us, probably got out somehow. Since its genes were altered, I wonder if it biting me somehow altered my own."
Damn, she fully figured out where, and what bit her to give her the powers? Good deduction abilities there.
"So you are like, what, half spider now? Does anyone else know? George?"
"I haven't told anyone other than you." She says, averting her eyes from mine. Aw, so cute. "Dad wanted to bring me to a doctor when I got sick, but I refused. I don't wanna be classified as some Oscorp property and taken for testing or anything like that, I also didn't tell dad since he is a cop and might feel like he needs to do something about this. I was already healthy yesterday, so he just thinks it was one bad fever that went away quickly."
"Fair, you would probably be thrown in a lab for study. And if my opinion on this matters to you, I don't think George would rat you out in any way, but whether you wanna tell him or not is up to you." I say. Personally, I think telling your family is a good thing, especially if you have a good dad like George, but this is her decision in the end. "So what else can you do?"
"My eyesight and hearing is better. I'm also stronger. Watch this." She says, turning to the fridge and without even straining lifts it from the ground.
"Not bad, but do you know the limits?" I ask and she shakes her head in response. "We should try to figure it out then."
To test her strength we need something heavy but going out right now to find something in public is not exactly optimal, so we make due with what we have here. The two of us empty the fridge of its contents and unplug it before Gwen stacks it on top of the couch in the living room. Then we added two armchairs, some shelves, a couple full boxes from my closets and a bunch of books on the empty shelves. A total of maybe 750 kg (1600 pounds).
Oh, and Gali sat on top of it all, but she doesn't count.
"I will support it so this Jenga tower doesn't fall over and create a mess, you try to lift it."
Gwen exhales and bends her knees, grabbing the center of the bottom of the couch and as if by magic, the ridiculous stack starts raising into the air. It is not an easy task for her, surprisingly.
Her arms tremble slightly while lifting and after raising it almost fully to the ceiling she carefully puts the whole thing back down.
Spider-man to my knowledge can lift over 10 tons. Is her limit at just 1 ton? Is this just because she got bit three days ago and her body needs some time to adjust, or is something else going on here?
"You almost look disappointed. I just crushed the world record for heavy lifting, you know." She says seeing my expression, which was probably a bit different from what she expected.
"Oh no, I was just thinking." I say, rubbing my chin. I should grow a beard. "With better posture and ideal conditions, you could probably lift twice this amount. Your ability might scale with your natural body strength too, so if you work out you might get even stronger."
I bend down and search through a drawer underneath the TV. Where did I put this thing…
"Yeah, I should definitely consider hitting the gym. Though training with this boost might be hard in a normal gym, should I go to the train yard to lift trains like Mr Incredible in that one movie? How heavy even are trai- Whoa!"
Gwen is brought out of her musings by a tennis ball I throw at her head. She dodges out of the way by reflex, yep the spider sense is there for sure. As if to confirm that theory, the ball bounces on the wall behind her and flies right back at her head but never hits the target as without even turning around, Gwen extends her hand and catches it before contact.
"What was that for?!" She asks, stunned at the fact that I suddenly threw the ball at her.
"Just testing your reflexes." I answer in a flat tone.
"Could have warned me!"
"Wouldn't have been as good of a test."
",,," She didn't bother to keep arguing over that. It was a good test, and she had to agree to that. "That felt weird, like something on the back of my brain screamed to move my body and I just trusted it. I don't think I could explain it better even if I wanted to."
"Sounds like a sixth sense of some kind." I nod to her explanation, that is pretty close to how Peter describes it usually. "Like a weird little spider inside your head playing an alarm and pulling the strings to make you move whenever you are in danger."
"Ew, that is a terrible way to put it. Now I'm going to imagine an actual spider living inside my brain every time that happens." She scrunches up her face in disgust.
"You're welcome."
Gwen chucks the ball back at me and I catch it easily with one hand before depositing it back in the drawer it came from.
She starts pacing back and forth in the room with a thoughtful expression. I allow her to collect her thoughts in peace without interrupting. Finally, she takes off her hood and sighs, "You know, I've been thinking about what to do with all of… this. The whole day yesterday, at night and in the morning. I want to do something and not just sit on these powers, but I don't just want to become a sort of science project either."
"And did you figure something out?" I ask, not giving any direct feedback. She can do what she wants with her powers, I don't really care if she becomes Spider-Woman or whatever, or just lives a normal life.
"Well…" She hesitates briefly before continuing. "I've been thinking about what Dad has been saying recently about the city becoming more dangerous ever since people like The Fantastic Four or the other vigilantes started showing up, and I started wondering if I could do anything to help. Like if I use these powers to help clean up the city, would he have time to come home earlier and not have to work as much or get caught up in dangerous stuff that I could prevent with my powers?"
She stops after all that for a second, considering something. "I just don't really know how to go about that. I mean, The Fantastic Four fight other weird superpowered individuals all the time like Mole Man or that Sandman. If I just become a superpowered cop and fight against any of them, they would definitely target not just me but anyone I know, which I don't want."
As if the universe had been waiting for the perfect moment to chime into the conversation, the TV that had been quietly playing in the background throughout all of this flashes a 'breaking news'
"This is Christine Everhart from WHIH Newsfront with breaking news. This morning, we have, for the first time, been able to secure real video footage of the Devil of Hell's Kitchen who folks are now starting to call Daredevil. We now have definite proof of this masked vigilante being real and not a drug induced, hallucination. Please take a look."
The video they show is blurry and not the highest of quality footage due to being shot in the dark of the night, but the figure shown is unmistakably Daredevil in his costume kicking some ass. He moves around in the middle of a whole group of thugs, doing flips and beating them down with little effort, before the footage is finally cut as he throws one of his clubs at the camera.
I say nothing and just point at the screen for Gwen, who was also deeply focused on the news. Before long, her eyes turn to stars as an idea is implanted in her mind.
"No public names, no identity, just put on a mask and go make the city a better place for everyone. Genius!" She says excitedly.
"Looks like you got your answers." I say, looking at her, who might just bolt out of here to buy a mask any second. "Before that though you need a costume, mask and to prepare. I also wanna know… spiders can make their own webbing right… do you also…"
Gwen looks at me confused for a few seconds, not understanding what I was asking. Suddenly though, her expression shifts. "What? No! What are you imagining right now."
"What am I imagining? What are you imagining?" I ask, wondering where her mind went. "I was just asking if you could shoot webs out of anywhere like your wrists? Have you tried?"
"Huh? Oh, wrists. Right." She exhales in relief before extending her hand forward, trying to will webs into existence, with zero success. She even does a few hand gestures, one of which is exactly what Peter Parker does to shoot webs. Still nothing though…
Huh…
Looks like she doesn't have biological webbing like Silk. I wonder if she can make the web shooters herself or maybe…
Could I?
[System Notification: Inventor has been used successfully.]
And the web fluid?
[System Notification: Inventor has been used successfully.]
Just like that, everything needed to make the two things enter my mind. I'm almost surprised at the fact I was able to get these two with my E- spirit, but I guess they aren't that complicated to make.
"No luck." Gwen says, finished with trying after a series of weird hand gestures. "I didn't even consider this as a possibility, but I'm a little disappointed."
"Don't be." I say, getting a curious look from Gwen. "I have an idea, but it will take a bit of time, maybe I can get it finished by tomorrow."
"Whoa!" She says with shining eyes. "Alright, we convene tomorrow after school and I will kick some ass!"
"Where are you going?" I ask as she turns around to run out of my apartment suddenly.
"To put together a costume!" She shouts out, last second, before shutting my apartment door behind her.
"..." She could have at least help me put all this furniture back in its place before running off.