The Punk and the Spider.

New York, the Urban Jungle, the city that never sleeps, to the outside world, a city of noise, traffic jams, smog, and other unpleasantries, with Times Square being it’s only saving grace.  

But for those who live in this city, it’s a place to rest your head, a place you can get the best pizza, a place of cultures, it’s a brotherhood, a family.

It’s home.  

For the young hero, it was his city, and he was determined to keep it safe.  

Sitting at the top of Central Park Tower, his feet over the edge of the skyscraper, Robert was jamming out to music, playing from his phone, as he was reading a chapter in his history book, occasionally writing down notes. “Man, if I don’t pass this history test, I’m gonna have to take summer school just to graduate.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose, his eyes getting strained from reading for the past hour. “But I need a break, too much studying is not good for the mind.”  

As if hearing him, his phone stopped playing music, as the Police Scanner went off.  

”All units, we have a 10-20B in progress, 33 Liberty Street, suspects are reported armed and dangerous, possible Metahuman involvement.”

Robert smirked as he stuffed his book and notes back in his backpack, webbing it to the roof of the building. “Alright...” He grabbed his mask, slipping it on, as he rose to his feet. “Hero time!”

Suddenly, he was airborne, as he leapt from the ledge of the tower, arching back so he descended head first. The rush of the fall was euphoric, as he had to keep from screaming out in excitement. Eventually he would reach a hand out, as he had descended low enough, firing off a line of webbing, which stuck to the top of a building.

The line would catch, as he gripped it into his hand, using the momentum to swing forward, like a pendulum. As he reached the peak of his swing, he would fire off another line, releasing the first one, and swing from that one. Continuing this pattern until he reached the location, clinging to the building above the street.  

Cops had blockaded the entrance to the Federal Reserves Bank of New York, as one of them, presumably the Sergeant, spoke on a megaphone. “This is the NYPD, we have you surrounded, please come out with your hands up!”

Suddenly, Huntsmans instincts went into overdrive, as he felt danger coming.  

From the entrance of the bank, a large, solid steel vault door shot out at the cops, smashing through the glass doorway.  

The officers crouched behind their squad cars, hoping their vehicles could protect them from the incoming 22ton steel projectile.  

But the door never made an impact, as a figure in yellow and black had landed on the street, catching the door mid-flight.  

“Okay...” Huntsman set the door off to the side, turning back to the police. “Typical day in New York, am I right?” There was an awkward silence, as none of the cops laughed or spoke, but rather just stood there, staring at him. “Right...” Huntsman fired a line into the bank, giving the cops a wave. “Be right back.” When the line snagged, he gave it a hard yank, letting his strength, and the lines elasticity, pull him into the building.  

Landing on the ceiling, he crawled quietly further inside, seeing that the one who threw the vault door had retreated, most obviously believing he had sent the cops a message.  

Eventually, he came upon the culprits, who were a group of ten figures, dressed in jackets, cargo pants, boots, hockey masks, and carrying rifles.  

All except one of them, who was standing a solid foot taller than the rest of them and was built like a tank. He seemed to be calling the shots, as he barked at one of the guys. “Hurry up and get that money bagged, and watch out for those damn tags!”  

Huntsman stuck a line to the ceiling, slowly descending upside down from his position, till he was eye level with the giant. “Hey guys, did any of you misplace a vault door recently?” He pointed back to the entrance. “Cause I found it.”

Suddenly, there were guns trained on him, as the entire groups attention shifted to the new person in the room.  

The hulking man turned slowly, cocking his head. “And who the hell are you supposed to be?”  

Huntsman looked over his suit, before looking back to the man. “Well, that’s a good question, see...” He stopped, firing a ball of webbing at the mans face, covering his vision, before jumping onto his shoulders, sticking to him as he used his momentum to flip forward, sending the man flying into the vault, before landing in a crouch on the ground.  

The other men looked to the boss, shocked someone so small could easily throw him around.  

The boss, ripping the webs from his mask, looked to his men, snarling. “Shoot the little bastard!”  

Huntsman instincts went into high alert, as a volley of bullets came flying his way. He leapt into the air, firing a line the wall above the vault, pulling himself over the line of fire.  

“After him!” The boss shouted.  

Two of the men slowly stepped out of the vault, sweeping the area as they did.  

Before they could look up, a line of web snagged onto their guns, yanking them from the goons hands. Huntsman then jumped from his position, dropping onto them, making sure to do enough force to knock them out, but not severely injure them.  

“Damnit, out of my way!” The Boss climbed back to his feet, storming out of the vault, going for a punt kick.  

Huntsman leapt up, getting a decent amount of height from his crouched position, clearing over the massive man in a back flip, kicking the giant square in the back, knocking him forward as he flipped again, landing again on the wall above the vault. “Man, I’m starting to feel like you don’t like me or something.”  

The boss snarled as he got back to his feet, looking back up at Huntsman. “When I get my hands on you, I’m gonna rip you into pieces.”

“Gotta catch me first.” The hero fired another web, aiming for the mans torso, as he prepared to deliver a powerful flying kick.  

The boss, however, caught the web before it could attach to his chest, chuckling maliciously.  

“Oh crap.”  

Huntsman was yanked clean off the walls, his fingertips burned as the barbed micro-hairs were pulled from the stone surface forcefully. He went flying, not able to maneuver in time as a powerful punch connected with his sternum. Several audible cracks could be heard as he was sent flying back into the vault, slamming into the back wall, before falling to the floor. Every breath he took felt like knives being stabbed into his chest, a clear sign something was cracked, or at worse, broken.  

“Okay...” He held up a thumbs up. “Good hit.”  

The goons took aim, getting ready to fire.  

“No...” The boss stepped into the vault, cracking his knuckles and neck. “You guys get the cash, and take care of those two...” He reached down, picking Huntsman up, holding him up in by his suit. “This little insect is mine.”  

“I mean, spiders are arachnids...” He was stopped by the pain from his ribs. “Ya know what, nevermind.”

New York had been his home ever since Ethan could remember.

A sprawling, spanning city that always felt like it had something to offer him. Mystery, chaos, excitement or anything else that came with it being the center of metahuman activity. It had always had heroes roaming through the streets, and yet despite that it didn’t feel as wide open as it felt to him lately., As if each street was an artery, letting energy flow through the grand body. As if flowing through his own body which felt alive looking down upon the city.

Looking down felt like looking at himself. His veins stretched out for miles on end, colored by streetlights and  buildings. Ever since he stopped being human. A faint pulse in his skull drew Ethan from his thought, followed by a chiding tone.

I didn’t take you as the type to think deep like that, He frowned, biting back a cursed that nearly spilled unbidden from his lips.

”Shut up. Let me have my own fuckin thoughts,” He sniped to the voice in his head, not quite caring how he sounded when he was alone. Not like there would be anyone to judge him up here,  which was why he hung up here in the first place.  He just wanted to be alone, separate from whatever was happening down there and yet he was looking down instead of sitting in that place truly separated from everything. It was a kind of contradiction that he didn’t even really understand.

So he stood up here, hands in his pockets and watching the city move on by.  He closed his eyes, feeling the ebb and flow of activity moving through the city. Crime wasn’t an uncommon thing. There was always someone, killing, stealing or destroying in the city. Which meant he didn’t pay much mind to it when he felt those small distortions, ripples on the surface of the water.  None of them stood out, none of them were any more important than the other. Its why he didn’t focus too much on this sense of his. This sense for the city that stretched out around him, because those ripples weren’t anything worth paying attention to. They didn’t actually count as something he should worry about. Not like a few murders would somehow destroy the city, not from his own experience.

As his mind worked over everything around them he noticed something. A pulsing at the edge of his senses.

Oh so now there was something important to look into? The sdpirit had a bad habit of just putting him onto random, unimportant crimes like they were his problem. Cat robots, random robberies that didn’t seem to have any real bite to them.

Well hop to it. I sensed something that’ll help with our save New York project!

”Please tell me it isn’t another guy getting mugged. We did that...like five times last week and I didn’t even get anything out of it.” Ethan muttered, sounding utterly annoyed by the concept.

Are you implying I’m leading you astray? She gasped, sounding offended.

”Well you sure as hell aint leading me to money, Despite his protests he had a feeling he would need to follow the lead anyway.

Everything we do has a purpose. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

”Pretty sure I already did a few hundred steps already,

If she could roll her eyes he felt it in his mind that she was. Have a little faith in me. I was holding this city together fine, before the advent of metahumans blowing me up anyway, Visions of The New York attacks over the year flashed through his mind. Was being destroy becoming just that common? He had to wonder how the other city spirits were dealing with something like this.

”Fuck...fine I’ll see what it’s about.” Stepping back from the edge of the tall building, her looked to the door he used to get her ein the first place. Stepping through he was once again in The Heart, a place that was everywhere in the city and nowhere at the same time. No time was wasted here, instead changing into something a little more indistinct. Black sweats and a matching shirt with a long sleeved hoodie over that, picking out a mask he made. A simple black cloth affair with a blank white mask over that, something to separate him from your typical thief.  With everything set up, he picked another of the many doors in this lounge lost within time.

The old timey music faded to something else.

What he walked into was the sound of bullets, loud shots firing off everywhere. Where was he now anyway? Looking around, Ethan saw the front entrance shattered, a massive hole as if something had managed to be thrown through it. Was this a bank robbery? It very much seemed like some kind of bank robbery from his perspective.  The door closed behind him, releasing a small sound that drew the attention of two of the people doing said robbery.

Shit.

They turned their guns towards him and without really thinking too much he broke into a run behind the nearest  cover. There was a pillar close, that much he could appreciate. Bullets chipping and ripping away at the material, though he was hoping it could outlast the onslaught.  Not like he could exactly predict that while under the fire.

You have powers you know,

Of course he did. The spirit did give him magic, enough to defend himself when the time came but also just to deal with whatever problems he was expected to fix.  Lifting his mask until his mouth was revealed, he turned his head and spewed an output of deep purple smog. A kind of fog that fell, clinging above the floor and rapidly began to spread outwards from where he was. His cover would hold, though if he wanted to take these guys down he would need to get the guns off of him. It would begin to spread outwards through the bank lobby, likely causing coughing to whoever ended up in it. Not to him because he was just immune to the whole thing.

Irriutation would be expected but the idea was loss of motor control once it was breathed in. Gas masks could help, but they could only filter the stuff out for long.  The greatest benefit was clouding their vision, making any shot unreliable and he took off. Zigging and zagging through the cloud, only a cacophony of footsteps that preluded him diving into a punch that caught one of the thugs in the jaw. Faint pain lanced through his wrist, throwing his full self into it and likely sending the other person falling to the ground. Coughing continued and he was sure they wouldn’t have the ability to shoot him too long from now.

As the Boss reared his fist back, ready to break more of Huntsmans ribs, he stopped, hearing the commotion going on outside the bank vault. “Hey...” He tossed the young hero against the wall, letting him drop to the ground as he looked out at the purple smoke that was now coming their way from the lobby. “What the hell is going on out there?”

Huntsman looked out to the purple cloud as he quietly got back to his feet, climbing up the wall as the giant man stepped out, looking around the room outside. “Thank god someone showed up, this arachnid was almost splattered.” He muttered under his breath.  

The boss snarled. “Damnit, this is your fault!” He spun around, pointing a finger accusingly.  

But the hero was no longer there.  

“Damnit, you sneaky little brat...” The boss snarled, moving back towards the vault. “What, too scared to face me head on?”  

Before he could take a step into the vault, two feet swung into his chest, hitting with enough force to knock the man off his feet, and flying back several feet. He then landed on the smooth stone floor, sliding even further.  

Huntsman leapt out of the vault, landing on one of the many displays they had. “Now, now, didn’t they tell you calling people names is rude?” As the big man started to climb to his feet, the hero fired two webs into the walls behind him, slingshotting himself feet first. “Missiles away!!”  

His feet hit with tremendous force, but the Boss was ready this time, as he stumbled back, but didn’t fly.  

Instead, he lunged for Huntsman, arms out wide as he tried to catch him in a hold, only to have the nimble hero jump over him. Huntsman used the guys head to flip, landing on another display behind him.  

“So...” Huntsman spun around on the display, facing the boss. “If you want, you can just surrender now, and we can all go home, well, you go to jail, but I’ll go home and sleep this off.”

In the poisonous fog that spread outwards, he crouched feeling the tension of impact settling into his knuckles. It wasn’t enough to knock someone out, because that would  have just been too easy. Even still he heard the sound of the person he struck hissing and the other looking around, likely gun in hand to shoot whoever had done that. The person at his feet was already finding it difficult to stand up, the gun clattered from his hand and the other fell to his knees.

So a kick to the face sent him to the ground.

You really know how to fight, don’t you?

”That’s fuckin obvious. So what, am I playing hero and stopping robberies now?” He muttered to himself,  moving through the purple fog without much concern. It would soon filter through the room, likely slowing down anyone else that it touched. Poking his head out from the smoke, he saw what looked to be a little hero dust up between some spider guy and someone else.

Well he should have expected that.

With a twist of his wrist to shift the flooring beneath him, turning from solid to a gaping hole, mostly meant to catch his ankles. That should make it easier.