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Miles zipped through the city as fast he could. Webbing anything and everything that could give him an extra boost. He’d been studying for physics, when his phone suddenly vibrated. A notification from Citizen showed words he never hoped to see. Terror on the Brooklyn bridge. One of the pluses of this app was that people could submit live updates. Unsurprisingly, that was also one of the downsides. He quickly scrolled through the topic which had apparently started 13 minutes ago. The general gist was this: Terrorists had taken over the bridge, trapping all the people on it as hostages. Pay the demanded ransom, or they would blow it up. And as much as Miles would love to leave this to the professionals, his dad was now captain. Which meant he would show up to the scene, and that wouldn’t do. Miles had grabbed his mask and exited through the window. Which is how he found himself flinging over buildings and through the streets, praying he would make it in time.
The first thing Miles noticed was the flashing red and blue lights. Instead of comfort, they filled him with a sense of dread. However, these cars were blocking off the street, and the officers here were directing traffic away from the scene. Miles cursed quietly under his breath, as this meant his father was probably already around here somewhere. He climbed higher so that he could get past them. And as Miles got closer, he saw that the situation had escalated. Helicopters flew over the bridge, shining spotlights over everything. People had gotten out of their cars, and were crouching on the ground. With hands on their head, or around each other. Many of them were crying from what Miles could see, and it filled him with a sense of anger. How could anyone do this to someone else? The anger quickly morphed into fear and worry though when Miles finally spotted his pops. A police car was turned horizontal, and he stood behind it, using a megaphone to speak over the car towards the bombers. Miles counted ten of them. Wearing all black, except for the red spider lily design they all sported in one way or another. His father was attempting to calm down the situation, while the madman didn’t seem to want to hear it. He had a thick accent as he repeated his demands for the money. The hijacker was getting more and more impatient. Cursing and waving his arms around wildly. Miles noticed that in one of his hands was a remote with a comically large red button on it. Porky would love that, Miles thought as he turned himself invisible. He approached as quietly as he could. Not towards the men, but rather to try and find the bombs. Just like Peter could predict the whole ‘you have 24 hours’ spiel, Miles had now been spiderman long enough to predict where they would be. And sure enough, the bombs were under the bridge. What Miles wasn’t expecting, however, was for there to be so many of them. At least 20 bombs lined the underside of the bridge, and seriously how had they managed this without getting caught sooner? While on one hand, Miles hated his dad was the one dealing with the bombers, he was glad for the distraction. Miles crawled quickly, giving each bomb a quick shock to disarm it. When he finally disabled the last one, he scrambled back on top of the bridge, glad that he was still invisible. His dad and his team were still in a standoff with the bombers, none the wiser that they had now lost every bit of leverage.
“Stand Down!” his father yelled.
“THEESE GUY. DOWN ‘E SAYS! WHERE IZ OUR MONEY!” the man yelled, now brandishing a gun. “I’VE ‘AD ENOUGH!” he yelled while firing a warning shot into the air.
“Hey man, that’s cheating.” Miles said.
“Wha-” he began, only to be cut off by a punch to the face. And how strange it must look for him to get decked by seemingly nothing. He went down hard, and the rest of the guys Miles had dubbed spider lilies, turned their guns towards him.
Miles made quick work of the rest of the goons, not realizing that the remote from earlier was a fake. The smallest looking member of the spider lilies had the real deal. He pushed the button, and while the bombs at the bottom didn’t go off, the ones at the top sure did. Meticulous, was all Miles could think as he ran towards the falling debris. Punching it to break up the larger chunks, or webbing people out of the way. He was strongly reminded of saving people back in Pav’s dimension.
As the dust settled, Miles took a moment to survey the scene. The police had rearranged the cars, allowing a team wearing reflective clothing to rush forward and search for anyone who had gotten caught under the rubble. Meanwhile, they also began loading up the bad guys and collecting the now diffused bombs. The guy Miles assumed was the leader had woken up, now yelling curses and cries for revenge that went largely unheard as he was escorted towards one of the shops. Miles watched for a moment, loving the hecticness because it meant that everyone was okay. The cheers of the people shocked Miles back into the present. It was always such a nice sound. After all, these were his people! Miles cleared his throat, doing his best to remember which voice he used when talking to his father.
“The nearest hospital is presbertyrian,” He said, while scaling upwards, “if anyone was hurt, please go to the trauma center just to be safe.”
“SPIDERMAN!” He heard someone yell, making him pause. “WAIT! Spiderman- please!” that lady’s voice again. Miles quickly scanned the crowd, and he spotted her. A lady who, at first glance appeared fine. And while Miles knew he really shouldn’t, she just sounded so desperate! Miles hopped down beside her.
“At your service,” he said with a small bow. She clutched a fist closer to her chest, as if stealing herself.
“Mr. Spiderman, hello.” she said, a lot calmer now that she had his attention. Miles waited for her to continue. “I know you are very busy, but I have a request to make. You see, my daughter is your biggest fan.” And that made Miles' shoulders drop in relief. He loved kids.
“Oh okay,” Miles said while looking around. His face scrunched in confusion, not that this lady would be able to tell. “Is she here? Oh gosh is she okay?” Miles asked. The lady smiled a little.
“No, no. She's not here,” And Miles was already preparing a little speech for a video, “but she’s not fine either.” Now Miles really paused, looking at the lady so that she could explain. “You see, she’s in the hospital already. At presbyterian actually, and she’s very sick” Miles heart ached at this news, truly. “She stays there, and well it’s her birthday soon. On Saturday. And well, I’m sure you could cheer her up. NO PRESSURE, of course. I know you can’t be everywhere.” She continued, “but if you could maybe, swing by, I’m sure it would mean the world to her.” Miles wanted to respond but the crowd had begun to press in. With this many people, it could get dangerous. He could also see that his dad had just tucked the last menace into the back of a car, and was now looking in his direction. And uh oh, it was time to go. He looked back at the lady and nodded in acknowledgement before making a hasty getaway.
Miles climbed back into his room, pulling off his mask and hunching over as he sucked in as much air as he could. Straightening up, Miles glanced at his desk. Ah right. Physics.
………
Saturday came much too quickly. Miles found himself grabbing a bouquet of daisies and sunflowers on the way to the hospital. But now that he was almost there, he was starting to have second thoughts. Was she even allowed flowers in her room? Could he even find it?
As he got even closer, at least one of his worries was alleviated. A quick swing around the building and he spotted a neon green poster board in a window of one of the higher floors. ‘It’s my birthday, Spiderman!’, it read. That must have been the girl’s mother. Miles turned invisible as he landed on the side of the hospital, crawling downwards towards the opened window.
“Open mine next sweetheart”, he heard a voice say. Miles peeked in just as a small child received her gift. She used her index to flick part of the tape edge that was peeking out. She ripped a thin tear down the middle. A Barbie dreamhouse. A small smile touched her lips then.
“Thanks dad. I-” only she was interrupted by her coughing fit. After laying back against her pillows, she tried again. “I really like it.” The girl clutched the box closer to her chest. “Hey dad, will I own a house like this one day?” Miles saw the man, her dad’s, face tighten. And was finally able to take in what he hadn’t that night. The tired eyes, the dropping shoulders, and weary smile. These were people who were tired, but loved their daughter deeply, and had probably stayed at the hospital more than they were at home. If they needed a little break, Miles could do that.
Miles decided it was time to make his presence known.
“Anything is possible.” He said while making himself visible. He swung into the room, using one hand to hang onto the ceiling, while the other presented the flowers. “Happy Birthday!” he exclaimed. For a moment, no one moved, and Miles began to wonder if he had the right room. After the longest 10 seconds of his life, the little girl sat up on the bed.
“SPIDERMAN!” she shouted, pushing the box off of her as she scrambled from under the covers and onto her knees.
“Hey sweetheart. A little birdie told me it was your birthday today?” The small child on the bed looked up at him, stunned like a deer in headlights. But she quickly recovered, throwing the rest of her half opened presents to the side in an instant.
“SPIDERMAN! YOU’RE REALLY HERE! IN MY ROOM!” and wow, Miles had not expected that much enthusiasm. “You really came! Mandy said birthday wishes don’t come true, but she was wrong cause you came! You can talk to birds?” She asked. Miles looked side to side, before leaning in as if he was conspiring with her.
“Well, to spiders.” He responded. And if by spiders he meant, spider people (actual spiders was more Peni’s thing), a little white lie wouldn’t hurt. The girl giggled, using her little hands to cover her face.
“That’s so cool!” she exclaimed. Her mouth was going a mile a minute, as she peppered in comments and questions. “So what’s it like? When you’re swinging through the city?” She asked.
“It’s…. Nice. It was really scary at first, but after getting used to it, it’s really fun! It feels like flying, and sometimes me and my friends race to see who can go faster.” Miles responded honestly. The little girl regarded him for a moment.
“You can swing with other people? Can….can I go with you?” she asked. Miles quickly glanced at her parents. They looked at each other, before her dad moved to speak.
“Now Abigail- Mr. spiderman is very busy and-”
“Yes.” her mom said. All their heads whipped towards her direction, and Abigail's dad opened and closed his mouth like a fish.
“Honey I’m not so sure if that’s a good idea.”
“Who could she be safer with? Besides, this is the happiest I’ve seen her in weeks. It’s her birthday, so shouldn’t she be able to live a little? Get out of this stuffy room and get some fresh air? She can go Spiderman, but please, be very careful.” The woman’s husband looked at his wife a moment more, and back to Abigail who was staring at him with large, hopeful eyes. He breathed out a sigh before standing up.
“She can borrow my jacket,” he said. Abigail squealed with joy, standing up fully on the bed. She did a little wiggle dance as he draped it over her much smaller shoulders.
“I won’t be able to zip it up if you keep rigglin’ like that.” her dad said, and though he was “scolding” her, it seemed Abigail’s excitement was contagious, as a small smile finally made its way to his face. “Bring her back safely spiderman,” he said, looking Miles directly in the eye (as much as he could with the mask anyway).
“Yessir.” Miles responded, as he scooped Abigail up and leaned back towards the windows.
“And spiderman?” He paused. “Thank you.” Miles didn’t respond. Only giving a little wave as he tipped backwards fully through the window, allowing Abigail to see the ground as they descended. He shot a web out, catching a ledge and sending them catapulting back towards the sky. Abigail’s cries of surprise were almost deafening, as she clung tighter to his neck. Miles gave a few more practice swings, allowing her to get somewhat used to the sensation. Before switching her behind him piggyback style. Abigail’s laughter was loud and bright as they swung through the city. He allowed her to point in the direction she wanted, and Miles would follow. Let’s go higher! Faster Spiderman! There are birds up here! It’s so beautiful! Miles was grinning ear to ear under his mask. It felt like the first time he went swinging. Only this time, he had some experience under his belt. Miles busted out a few tricks, within reason of course, and Abigail seemed to love it. But of course, all things must come to an end. He brought them back to her room, where they entered with a flip.
“And they stick the landing!” “10 out of 10!” her parents cheered at the same time. Miles gently deposited Abigail on her bed.
“Happy Birthday Abigail.” he said, while kneeling at her bedside.
“This, was the best. Birthday. EVER!” She said, looking windswept and rosy, a cheshire grin on her face that could rival Miles’ own. And if Miles noticed her mother wiping a few tears away, he didn’t say anything.
“Well you’ve been the best birthday girl ever! And while I had so much fun hanging out with you, I do have to get going. Crime to fight, people to save, you know the drill right?”
“Right.” Abigail responded, though her smile had dropped just a bit. “Mr. Spiderman? Am I going to see you again?”
“Of course you will! This is my home too, you know. I’ll be around.”
“Mr. spiderman?”
“Yeah Abigail?”
“You’re my hero.” she said. And wow, Miles had to fight the tears back at that one. He hoped they couldn’t hear it in his voice as he leaned back in.
“Well let me tell you something. Fighting to get better? To be better? That takes so much strength and courage. And it’s not something everyone has the bravery to do. But here you are doing it. I’m so proud of you. You’re my hero too. ” Miles said. And he really meant it. Abigail reached back up to hug Miles around the neck. He hugged her back until she let go.
“Make sure you catch all the bad guys Spiderman!” Abigail said, billion-watt smile back in place.
“You got it!” Miles said while giving her a salute. “Thank you for spending part of your birthday with me,” Miles called as he once again took his leave. He could still hear the cheers and goodbyes halfway down the block.