Chapter Text
She pushed down at the exasperating plastic bag, internally begging to fit the last pillow as its fluffy interior causes it to sway at every different side. No use, not bugging, but maybe if she just...
"Y/N! We need to be out of here by quarter past nine," Calls out her Dad from downstairs, "I hope you aren't slacking up there!"
With one side glance at her watch, she realises it's already 9:10 am. Ten of those previous minutes were spent trying to get her bedsheets in this surprisingly fragile bag, who knew attempting to fit the pillows would be worse than trying to fit Y/N's clothes and luggage into her family's nightmare of a backseat car?
"No time for slacking on a morning like this!" Y/N proclaimed back in a smugly enthusiastic tone.
While all these problems with suitcases and luggage were irritating enough, she couldn't help but feel ecstatic about this new adventure ahead. Living in the lower-middle-class sanctuary of Gotham City has been in and of itself a nightmare of a place to live. Sure it had some of the best superheroes, but it also had the cruellest villains.
Who would want to live in a place where all the big bads like The Joker or Two-Face are swarming the streets with gangs looking for new innocent citizens to forcibly recruit? Nuh-uh, no thanks. She'll stick to having a stable lifestyle thank you very much!
Provokingly so, losing focus from the plastic bag caused that last pillow she had tried so hard to put in, to strike her hostilely to the face, and Y/N collapsed onto the empty mattress that lay behind. After an infuriated groan, the decision to hold it separately came to mind.
Jump City was three hours away, might be useful to have a pillow at her seat instead of relying on those annoying neck pillows that did, out of all things, enrage her neck even more.
"Y/N!" Her mother exclaims from downstairs, "Could you help your brother down here? He's lost his headphones!"
Quickly after came Y/N's older brother calling out, "Maybe they're in the car! I swear they aren't in my room I already scoped out the place!"
Ignoring his excuses, she simply exchanges back, "I'll check anyway, you always leave stuff in unexpected places."
With a single snicker, Y/N lifted herself from the mattress and carried her pillow along with the plastic bag out of the room, making a final glance at her small childhood room. It used to be covered in all forms of decor regarding her current hobbies, messy, but not messy enough to have created an ecosystem.
Nevertheless, with all memories considered, it was time to move on and give herself a better life in a hopefully better apartment.
Swinging her room's door shut, Y/N looks to the door on the right side beside her own. Still, with remnants of blue tack where her brother used to hang up all his weird posters. With all of them gone, it was hard to tell it was even his room, being so used to seeing them up for years at a time.
One thing never changed though, and that was the smell. A mix of cologne and slightly toxic chemicals Y/N dared not to even ask what they were, he made a promise to her at this new apartment to change his ways, cause even he realised how terrible the room smelled. She shakes her head to silently scold her brother's devastatingly horrible choice of colognes.
Although, she can't really feel distasteful for him. He's the entire reason she got to move in the first place. Aaron, her brother, is what she liked to call a 'science geek'. So much so that he's been invested in all forms of sciences throughout his life, though he's most known for chemical, radiation and biological science. His most famous project was his experimental spiders, which with his advanced knowledge gave them different powers.
Most of them were mediocre powers in her opinion, but three out of the four managed to impress scientists enough to win him a spot in one of the coolest, science-geeky, universities in the state! The prize money had included an apartment nearby to the university which was fit enough for the entire family, quite a score.
Whereas that fourth spider, he thinks it can do something, just not something a spider would usually need to do. Though he doesn't care about the fourth one anymore, almost forgotten about it since it didn't appear to do anything other than emit radioactive pulses.
She exited from her thoughts, dropped her things, and began rummaging around his room. Most furniture remained, he did not need them anymore since the university would provide much more suitable work desks and equipment over there.
Nothing, empty, ew was that gum that her fingers just touched in that shelf draw?!
Y/N pats her hands as she stands up, there is one place she hasn't checked. It was the only place her brother banned her from looking, it was a thin but tall cupboard that was at the edge of his closet, in the corner of the room.
It was where he put all his experiments, his little science insects. It was understandable that he didn't want anyone to get anyone bitten or exposed to any dangerous chemicals that were emitted from those things. However, he did mention he handed all the important ones over to the head scientists of the university. All the remaining ones would have been exterminated already, surely... hopefully.
Lifting her hand to the closest handle, she opens the door and finds just what she expected. Empty cupboard, and the headphones! Well, that solves that. Y/N immediately reached her hand into one of the dark shelves, the strong green coloured headphones made this find all the too easy.
She did not even bother to look further in, just facing back at her things to prepare her way out. Until a sudden bite stirs Y/N's hand back out almost suddenly. Staring at, not just her headphones, but a giant spider with its fangs stuck onto her hand's wrist.
The bite had only hurt for a second, though who cares? Time for revenge you spooky piece of nature!
Without a second thought, she'd swat the small terror, and carelessly watch as it fell to the ground. All its legs cradled together as it slowly died away.
Only then did her mind quickly piece everything together,
Spider, spider in science cupboard, science cupboard that was full of science bugs.
Oh.
Oh... no...
Fine, it's fine, maybe it was an ordinary spider, just a random critter that managed to sneak its way in. She eyes down at the spider, did he not say he gave all his important experiments to the university, would the spiders not count?
Then she remembers, the fourth, the fourth one that he didn't care about... Oh, of course, he would leave it unattended!
Her heartbeat accelerates as she realises the situation, the bite mark on Y/N's wrist does not appear to look dire though. Relax, calm down, she doesn't feel like she's dying, it doesn't hurt. All this time she could just be exaggerating...
"Did you find my headphones?" her brother calls out, "Also Dad and Mum are waiting for us in the car!"
His yelling gets Y/N out of the panicked haze and feeling her breathing again, she picks herself up and walks to get her bags.
"Yeah... Yeah, I got them," She calls back, "Better not keep Mum and Dad waiting." Y/N eyes the dead spider while at the door with a nervous look on her face, before walking down the stairs.
_________________________________________
The car ride was horrific, Y/N felt uneasy the entire ride. She couldn't focus on the new world outside, everything was blurry, and all she could do was sleep uncomfortably and watch as the spider bite on her hand grew red and itchy.
Two hours in, she felt conscious enough to stretch in her seat and listen in to the conversation the rest of her family was having. Although she was most eager to ask her brother about the spider, seeing how her conditions were getting worse.
"Can you believe it? Teenagers, our daughter's age, flying around fighting criminals and supervillains!" Y/N's mother complained outrageously, "I'm surprised there are fewer crime rates in Jump City than in Gotham."
"Jump City has better mental health and poverty rates," Dad replies while looking at the road ahead, hands on the stirring wheel. "or maybe these ''Teen Titan'' guys are just good at their jobs?"
"Don't be ridiculous, their teenagers, Y/N can barely defeat a cockroach, let alone a criminal." Y/N's brother, Aaron, confidently adds.
Y/N nudges his shoulder which startles him to smirking stare at her.
"And look who's awake." He chuckled, "Wow I didn't know sleeping in the car could make you look like you came straight out of a morgue."
She grunts, before quietly asking, "You mentioned that your weird experiments are already at the university. What about the spiders?"
The parents looked at the road and continued having a conversation with each other while Y/N and Aaron spoke separately.
"Oh- yes, err... I handed over the three ones and the fourth..." He silently gasps, "Argh, damn it. I knew I had forgotten something. I left that one back at the house." He pauses for a moment, before relaxing again. "Oh well, not like it was really anything special, it should still be in its container. So the thing will be dead by the time anyone else rents the place. Shouldn't be a problem."
A shaky breath shrivels Y/N silently as she diverts her head back to the window so Aaron can't see her terrified expression. Does she tell him? Well if it isn't special it shouldn't be a problem... but her body hurts like crazy!
"Bites," Y/N asks, still facing the window.
"What?"
"Did you ever test the venom of those spider bites?"
"Yes actually! Not on me of course but I extracted venom from each of the spiders!" His nerdy side took over him as he excitingly explained, "None of the bites was lethal, but-"
As he continued to brag in his nerdy voice, Y/N stopped focusing after hearing it not being lethal, the last thing she wanted to know was if it could kill her or not. Bonus with the fact she was feeling extremely tired once again, nausea driving her back to a silent, deep, sleep.
_________________________________________
She woke up to her brother moving her shoulder. Y/N unsynced her eyes open at a slow pace as Aaron began to take the pillow from her hands.
"-We're here! Wakey wakey!" Her ears slowly began their course when he spoke.
Still feeling icky, strength was at an all-time low. However, it was still better than an hour ago, and she was very much capable of getting out of the small car with her things. Y/N did not bother to even glance at the front of this new apartment, she just wanted in, just wanted to go back to sleep.
Dad was willing to help her with Y/N's suitcase after seeing how ill she looked. All the while her mother and brother were happily running around this new apartment, gladly talking about how more spacious it was and how more sophisticated the architecture was.
Y/N couldn't deny their cheers for space. Her new room had to have been at least five metres wider and longer than her previous room. She stared at her bed's mattress for a while, fighting all the blurriness in her vision. Dad moved her suitcase in from behind.
From out of nowhere, she gave in to her sickness and passed out on top of the mattress.
_________________________________________
Her eyes bolted open, she never felt so energetic before! Looks like the sleep really came in handy.
Lifting herself from the mattress, she noticed the blanket and a random ice pack that fell from her forehead. She must have had a really bad fever from that spider bite, seeing as what happened before.
Speaking of which, what's the time?
Raising her body, Y/N noticed how she did it with quick ease and agility. Odd, but nothing too weird. She walked out of your room and around the house, the midday light peering in through the large windows. Eventually reaching the kitchen where she found a note laid at the front counter.
Hey Y/N! Looks like you slept through yesterday!
The families have gone out to get a tour of the university.
We've noticed the cold you've gotten, so mums going to
stop by the pharmacy and get you something for that nasty fever.
Chips and drinks are in the pantry,
xoxoxo, Mum, Dad, Aaron.
"Sad they will be wasting their money..." She said to herself, voice echoing the empty home.
Attempting to put the card down from her hand, Y/N notices it's still stuck to her hand. She tries putting it back down again, yet it sticks.
Sweaty hands? Y/N humorously snickers as she tries to get it off with her other hand. Only for her other hand to stick to the note as well. Her once positive attitude switches as she's now tearing the note apart just to get all the pieces off.
"What sick joke is this?"
She managed to get most off, however, there were still smaller pieces stuck on her fingers. Which just infuriated her even more. She backs away and wanders to the lounge beside the kitchen, seeing the already placed TV and TV remote, she figured watching some TV could calm her down.
Picking up the remote, she switches the TV on. Projecting the casual things she would expect, kid shows, advertisements, and the casual news.
However, she wound up stopping at a breaking news report. It was nothing she wasn't already used to, heroes defeating the bad guys, looks like Dad was right, these "Teen Titans" guys weren't mediocre at all. Just defeated some giant Block guy called Cinderblock, and another bad guy who looked like the definition of a "Goop monstrosity."
Just as Y/N rests on the couch, she realises the remote... is sticking to her right hand.
"Seriously?" She exclaimed in disbelief.
Trying to yet again pick it off finger by finger, the more nervous she got, the stickier the hands were. Standing back up, the news still chatting away, she moves around, trying to use other things to get it off. Y/N notices her apartment's small balcony has a spoon on top of its small table, along with other plates and utensils.
That will work.
Walking over, she opens the balcony door and hesitantly picks up the spoon at the tips of her left index finger and thumb. Beginning to scrape under the TV remote to get it carefully off.
Minute after minute, Y/N was getting impatient, more eager to go back to relaxing on the couch. She moved around at different angles, walking around the balcony. Ending up at the edge of the balcony, where she had the best angle, however, still struggled to get it off.
Y/N was starting to freak out now, what was happening? Now the spoon was stuck, the TV remote, anything she was touching was sticking. She glared at the spider bite, now fully healed, leaving a small scar.
A small gut feeling told her that the spider had something to do with this.
Beginning to get more aggressive, she was using the balcony fence to try and bend the TV remote out of her hand.
The TV remote cracks and, surprisingly, leaps into the air above her. With a sudden instinct, she jumps up to catch it, only, at this moment, she manages to jump six feet into the sky.
Shrieking in danger, the remote she had caught breaks into minuscule pieces. Although now she couldn't care less, Y/N just jumped from the balcony!?!
The apartment was nowhere near the ground floor. Her body helplessly moved around in the sky as she fell further and further to the ground, the spoon out of her hand falling alongside her.
Focus, focus, FOCUS!
She had no idea why her brain was acting so stress-free in this deathly situation, but it brought her attention to the ground. There was a tall tree below her, however, that was the only closest thing that could save her, not very keen on landing in flat grass.
Heavily breathing, Y/N's head buzzed with an unfamiliar sensation, causing her to feel agitated, before lending her ideas, ideas she would not have thought of. The internal warning made her glance at a particular branch.
Having no other choice, she reached out both her hands to the branch, closing her eyes before impact.
Falling.
Falling...
SWING!
Peering her eyes open, feeling her body swing from the branch, her hands miraculously held on as if she wasn't at least 20 feet in the air. She let out a gasp of relief, anxiously smiling at the successful and, logically impossible grasp on such a thin branch.
But the situation wasn't over, and Y/N couldn't see anyone around. No people, no phone, no one to call out to.
This was definitely not what she had in mind when she claimed to want "adventure".
"Don't let go," Y/N nervously exclaimed with every breath, "For the love of all that's holy do NOT. LET. GO!"
_________________________________________
It took ten minutes to get herself down, there was no luck in finding anyone nearby to help. However, at the same time, she found that to be a good thing.
Now embarrassingly walking back to the complex, and into the elevator, reception tilted their heads concerningly as they watched Y/N hesitantly press a button to her floor, tree bark remnants covering her palm. Along with a bent metal spoon.
At least that experience helped Y/N figure out which floor her new home was on. Actually, no, no excusing what happened there, that was insane. What is wrong with her?
As the elevator door closed and began to lift itself. She looked at her palms, numbing herself back to sanity. The state of shock eased down now that she was no longer falling down a twelve-floor building.
She shrinks her eyes and leans on the elevator wall.
"What is going on?..."
_________________________________________
Walking to the door of her apartment, Y/N gazed at one of her palms, coming to terms with what had happened. There has to be a way to get things back to normal...
Stopping at her door, she peers at the doorknob keyhole.
"urGhh, the keys!" She scratched her hands in her hair.
"Y/N?" A familiar voice echoed from afar.
She twisted her head at the voice, it was Aaron!
A hit of relief struck Y/N, as she hopelessly chuckled, facing the ground. feeling the pieces of bark easily collapse to the ground, along with the spoon. Aaron runs over with a confused grin on his face.
"What are you doing out here?" He briefly eyes the ground, "Why is there a spoon... Is that bark?"
"Nothing- NOTHING!" Y/N interrupts, "Or well, it's something... I just er, wanted to take a look around outside of the new city."
"So you took pieces of bark and a spoon with you?"
"It's a home-sick hobby."
"...Right..."
Aaron picks up a key from his pocket, twists it in the doorknob, and opens the door. Y/N runs in with haste, and ditches to her room. Shutting the door behind her without a single word to her brother. So he yells out while heading to the kitchen.
"Mum and Dad will be back soon as well, they've just gone to the pharmacy!"
"Yeah- Okay, got it!"
She really hasn't got it today, that's for sure.
But first things first, what does she have, and how can she control it?