Chapter Text
The Amazing Malipo! Can we really trust him?
The majority of Natlanese folk now relies on the mysterious, quiet, and self-sacrificing hero, who goes by the name “Malipo”.
At first, not many trusted him - after all, the idea of a man hiding his identity
behind a mask and shooting green webs around - quite unbelievable, isn't it?
However, these days, most already adore him.
It's been a year since he first appeared, but the question remains - Who is he and what are his real motives?
Tch, this was the third one this week. The newspaper was simply trying to gain more money by constantly pasting that name on the front page.
Malipo.
Personally, Kinich didn't see why people perceived the poor guy like that. Surely, he wouldn't like it (Kinich would know).
However, he was apparently the absolute centre of Ifa’s world. Not in the fangirl way, but in the Ifa-obsessed way. Which would translate to: absolute madness.
Don't interpret it in the wrong way now - Kinich loved Ifa, they were friends since… always, Archons, but…
“I wonder how it works. I mean, do you think he has special veins that shoot out green webs? I mean, ahem, I was watching some video records closely yesterday, and he clearly shoots them out of his wrists, right? That being said…”
“I'm sure he has some kind of device for it, Ifa,” Kinich cut him off in his usual cold, calm, and composed fashion, leaving the taller male to sigh.
“How can you be so sure?”
Kinich simply ignored Ifa’s gray eyes staring at him to prompt an answer, focusing his attention on the hallway instead. He could hear all the signs - the high-pitched chuckles, the loud gum-chewing, the jingling…
There she was.
The center of his world - that's what he would call her if he were in a romantic superhero movie.
However, whether fortunate or not, Kinich’s life was far from that. Sure, he had a really tight suit (that he actually regretted making that tight - hence why he started to wear special large pants with it) under his normal clothes and a mask in his deep pocket. And although yes, he has been in situations that could be described as dramatic enough to fit into action movies - that was all Malipo.
And Kinich was just Kinich.
To Mualani, at least. Truth be told, he didn't want to be required to be a superhero just to make her spare him more attention. To be precise, the amount he had gotten when they were little children would suffice.
Now she was right at the other side of the corridor. Ifa kept talking, but Kinich’s attention was unintentionally locked on the pretty girl trailing after a group of other girls, the girls who were nothing like her. She had nothing in common with the loud, arrogant girls. In their pink world, she was blue. And yet, whenever Kinich would catch a glimpse of her, it would be with them.
Mualani looked at him and put one of the blindingly bright grins on her face, greeting him with a simple wave of her hand.
Well. It was better than nothing. Kinich nodded to her in response, as if the little something she managed to wake up long ago didn't cheer.
“Ew, stop it!” Ifa elbowed his arm, and Kinich rolled his eyes with a sigh, keeping up his typical behavior. “Ah, so you can gush about Malipo, but you won't even let me greet a friend?”
“Yeah, but Malipo is not a girl I've been in love with for years !” Ifa shot back. It was Kinich's turn to smack his arm this time.
“Keep your voice down, will you?” he mumbled, glancing away from the bubbly girl. That was enough staring for today. Instead, he focused his gaze on the newspaper he still held in his hands. The one with him on the front page every other day. Yeah, now that Kinich thought about it, it was all so… over exaggerated.
“Malipo rushed in and snatched the poor girl right out of the villain's hands! According to her own words, we exclusively bring to you, “It was like a dream.. one second, I'm tied to a bridge, the next I'm in his arms! I had never noticed before that… his arms are truly amazing. He is amazing!”
Unbelievable. What nonsense. They definitely didn't have to add that last bit, too. He tossed the useless paper into the closest bin, ignoring Ifa's protesting whine. Well, wasn't really a whine, but it was the closest to a whine a guy like Ifa could get. That's what being a broke student does to you. However, Kinich couldn't see how Ifa's poor choices (buying such an idiotic newspaper as that ) were his problem.
“I gotta go, Ifa,” Kinich said after Mualani and her odd friends left. His brain was kind enough to remind him that an exchange student was waiting for him by this time, probably. Kinich kind of hoped so; it would be a pain if he had to go through the trouble of chasing a lost student who couldn't follow instructions around.
“Why?” His friend turned to him with that already familiar dumbfounded expression.
“I was late yesterday. My punishment is giving a tour to some exchange student.”
“Damn.”
“Indeed.”
The new student turned out to be a girl as bubbly as Mualani, which wasn't as great as it might sound; Kinich had hoped it would be an uninterested, bored teenager. Instead, they had to stop nearly every minute so Varesa could observe posters, awards, photos, and things Kinich himself hadn't even noticed before.
Right, her name was Varesa. Quite common, but not half-bad. She was just a little shorter than him, dressed in cutesy pinkish clothes, and carrying a pink sports bag around.
As many other pieces of information she chirped about as they walked, he had learned she was an aspiring runner; “I came here for these reasons: One, I have an important running competition coming up. Two, I want to use this trip to obtain new knowledge about different places. Three, I heard that Malipo is usually seen around these parts, meaning I get to snap amazing shots of him!”
After questioning that one, he had also found out that Varesa was not only an enthusiast of Malipo (great, another one?), but working a part-time job as a photographer for some Collective of Plenty newspaper. He would bet that those people didn't force his name on the front page three times a week. He wouldn't give them much credit for that, however; as Varesa said herself, he was usually seen around The Scions of Canopy. Somehow, this place attracted all the bad guys with Alchemax and similar stuff around. He conveniently lived in the tribe as well.
In conclusion, Varesa posed a partial annoyance to him, due to her being an enthusiastic photographer with the ability to run fast and possibly chase him around while he had his hands full of other problems. That aside, she also looked like a decent human being, so he doubted she would give him a headache too big.
He took her through the halls and showed her the canteen, library, gym, restrooms, and even went as far as leading her to the classroom she was assigned.
“Thanks so much, Kinich! You're a really nice guy! Do you do sports?” She asked just before he got the chance to leave.
“Uh. Not particularly…” he answered, trailing off as she energetically continued with a chuckle.
“Oop, sorry! I just thought… You know, because of your arms?”
His arms were getting really uncomfortable, thank you very much. They were average-sized, what was everyone's problem? “Genetics.”
“A lucky one, ha? I see how it is! Well, I should get going! Thanks a lot!” It was truly interesting how animatedly Varesa moved. Her cartoony movements were highlighted even more by the way her long hair, tied into two pigtails, bounced behind her and the black skirt, which ruffled at every small movement.
Kinich nodded. It might have been his most used reaction to literally everything, but it did the job. “No problem.”
Varesa nodded back, with much more enthusiasm. “Bye-bye, Kinich!”
She turned around and skipped to the class door. Kinich watched as she opened it, leaning forward to glance into it and make her presence known. She rubbed the back of her head, and Kinich turned around, even though the skirt didn't lift enough to reveal much. He considered himself a decent man, unlike the majority of his classmates who would look.
Not like he had any reason to stay there any longer.
Three classes left. Then he was free. Partially, anyway.
The tall, masked man stepped forward. The three Children of his looked down, showing their respect - as they should. “The Creator is ready for its initial run, sir,” one of them said after a minute of silence. Alongside the respect, there was an undertone of fear in her voice. She was always one of the weaker ones, the man thought. She hardly deserved the better future they were all doing their best to achieve.
“Fine. Start the Creation.”
He could feel the two scientists who were not of his kind glancing at him - the familiar tinge of shock teased his nape. “What's the issue?”
“Are you sure you don't want to run any tests first, sir?” The younger male asked. The man looked at him. Of course, the scientist couldn't see his tortured eyes, but the man made sure he could feel them on his body. Although he was tall, he was scrawny. The man could see the shiver that ran down his spine when he trembled under his gaze, but he didn't go back on his word, only adjusted his glasses. A clear sign of nervousness. How interesting.
“Start the Creation. That will be our test.”
Both the male and female scientist turned to work, pressing all kinds of buttons and typing their fingers away on those futuristic-looking keyboards. The man never understood the appeal. Why bother with special equipment that only caught unwanted gazes?
The thought was quickly abandoned when the Creator came to life. It was as if the man's entire life was flashing behind his eyes. All the torture, the pain, the suffering… It wasn't in vain.
The metallic bottom started rotating faster and faster, the three arms around it doing the same in the opposite direction. The scientists started talking to each other, but their professional words blended into each other as the light show began unfolding, trapping the masked man's eyes. Flashes of yellow, green, and purple blinded him - the colors created shapes that seemed material, flickering and flowing together in a chaotic harmony, which created a surreal, floating ball with spikes in the middle.
For a second, all of the noise and flashing stopped, only to… explode a second after. The man instinctively closed his eyes, not being able to avoid the blinding white light behind his eyelids either way. After a beat, it was all dark again, and so he dared to open them again. The scientists were already talking in a hushed tone, the woman writing down notes into her notebook at record speed.
Once again, all of the man's attention was focused on the little part of the dream he and his children shared that had just come true. A smaller, calmer version of the colorful ball with spikes peeking out here and there was floating just above the metallic platform, which reflected its wonderful light in a truly mesmerizing way.
The man turned to the scientists. “Results?” The female was the one who stepped out this time. “Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we succeeded in our main goal. However, this looks like a Creation! We're definitely on the right path. Just give us some time. We will now begin the research and find out how to get closer to achieving our ultimate goal, sir.”
The man nodded. He was a bit disappointed, but the feeling of pride and fulfillment overshadowed that. A Creation. They were on the right path, indeed. He smiled under his mask.
Everything went according to plan. Soon, the perfect future would be achieved, and he would be the one behind it all, the one the Children chose.
There weren't many things Kinich hated. He despised gambling, wearing long-sleeved shirts, his school uniform, the scent of Mualani’s friend, things that were too sweet, and alcohol. But there was one thing, one creature that would win the competition (if there was any).
Ajaw.
“Damn it, Kinich, your handwriting is absolutely terrible! You should just let the Almighty K’uhul Ajaw take over your body already! Even that stupid girl you pine after your whole life would be yours, haha!” That disastrous being started laughing in the usual high-pitched fashion. Amazing.
“She is not stupid. And shut up, will you? I'm trying to do my homework.” Kinich retorted, attempting to remain calm. He was always told his voice sounded monotone and calming all the time, but ever since he got the little gift from the universe in the form of the so-called Lord of Spiders, there was a new edge to his voice whenever he spoke to the little pixelated being.
Had he known this torture would come after being bitten by that spider, he would have never gone to that subway that day.
It was all pretty calm at first - Kinich had to figure out why the hell it wouldn't stop sticking, but after some initial embarrassment, rather traumatizing events, and a couple of bruises, he figured out what he was meant to do. And so he did. He designed the now infamous black suit and later the oversized pants (for his own comfort). And then, he got the idea of the watch that could turn his normal webs into green, stronger, flickery webs. Well, not really a watch, more like a bracelet that looked like a watch at first sight, but anyway - the moment he had put it on his wrist, this thing appeared behind him and proclaimed that “it took him long enough to build it ”.
Ajaw never explained himself, not really, but since then, he would not get a break from the constant “ You should die already!” and “I'm the Lord of Spiders and you're just a commoner!” and “What the hell are you doing? You aren't winning this one, haha!” every damned second he was alone. Or in the middle of the fight, because Ajaw presumably assumed nobody would pay attention to him then.
Kinich didn't believe that greenish couple of pixels connected to look like a spider at first. Who would believe that crap, anyway? But after proving the creature’s powers a couple of times, he figured that it might be true, which was even crazier. Because if he were to die now, Ajaw would take over his body and do who knows what.
Kinich sighed, interrupting the spider’s self-praising monologue. “I will lock you up if you don't stop this instant. I still have a load of homework to-”
“All units, we have an anomaly in the City of the Scions of Canopy, Quenepa Street. Abandoned factory building. Looks dangerous. Be careful, it looks like a villain that we haven't encountered before.”
Ah. Guess not.
“Haha, homework? I can't believe the spider bit you, a nerdy teenager who has a load of homework to do and no girls that want to-”
“Aren't you the spider?” Kinich snapped, ventilating his annoyance out through the really aggressive rise to his feet, leaving the open notebook on the desk. He quickly took an unsuspicious-looking shoe box from his shelf, putting the pants hidden inside on at a rapid speed. The fabric felt familiar as he slipped into it, as well as the texture of the mask that always took a little getting used to whenever he would put it on.
He leaped out of the window, letting the wind welcome him like an old friend as he flew through the city. He could feel the eyes on him as he swung from one street to another. He didn't have to hear the whispers to know that they were exchanged. Cheers reached his ears as usual, and perhaps, some would think that was the biggest encouragement of all, the drop of courage and support he needed. And truth be told, Kinich did appreciate the kindness of the people, their way of love. But what he really loved about flying through the city fast enough for that little devil to be unable to catch up was the relentless feeling of adrenaline creeping into his veins and filling his chest.
It was silly, but maybe Kinich was always meant to be Malipo. Even before the encounter with that spider, he had always craved that feeling of the edge between success and irreversible failure. The thrill of leaping from a building and falling, only to secure himself with a fast swing at the last second, handling his own life in his own hands.
And even aside from that, he didn't have much to lose. Maybe that and the silent flame burning in his chest made him the perfect one to make sacrifices every other day.
And so, he got lost in the feeling for a little while, enjoying the little venture to the abandoned building in the middle of the Quenepa street, unaware of the truly fast pink-haired photographer trailing behind him.
Fortunately for Kinich, the ‘abandoned building’ the police dispatcher mentioned was quite easily recognizable. Unfortunately for Kinich, it was due to the absolute mess of a lightshow; rays of green, pink, blue and yellow were pouring out of all the holes and old windows that were all over it.
He smoothly bounced off a wall and secured a web on the top of the closest building, slowing down and descending with the precision he mastered over the two years. Strange sounds were coming out of that half-collapsed factory and Kinich could only assume that this was going to be one of those issues. Great. His mind already started coming up with an excuse that would be believable enough, preferably a one his math teacher hasn't heard before.
As light as a feather, he landed on the broken windowsill, peeking inside. There wasn't much to see, really.. Until there was. The odd lights stopped all of a sudden, and Kinich was definitely anticipating some kind of bigger explosion, except it never came. Cautiously, he moved inside, swiftly jumping down to one of the many metal containers stacked in the empty space. There wasn't much else, really.
Aside from the big spiky light ball of who knows what floating above a metallic platform elegantly, as if it wasn't the thing that caused the entire building to turn into the biggest source of light in a minimum of a 3-mile radius for a second. It looked pretty harmless, but Kinich knew it wasn't. Just the way the colors looked almost… material (they were, weren't they?), and how they were shaping into different spikes and curves here and there, each and every thing was telling him that whatever this was, it was everything but harmless.
Back to the matter at hand, there was no one to be seen. Who was behind this, why, how and..
Kinich barely had the three seconds to look around and take in his surroundings before his time ran out. The only thing he saw before he got lifted into the air was a blurry smudge of red, grown and grey.
Here we go again.
Well, at least he could see his sudden opponent clearly. The thing had wings, which wasn't ideal, but he dealt with worse. There was also a beak which appeared as melted into the spot where there used to be a nose - further distorting the already scarred and inhuman face. Completing all of this were claws that Kinich couldn't see, but the sharp pain pulsing through both of his shoulders told him enough.
They were spiralling through the air at chaotic, uncontrollable speed. What was this guy's deal, honestly?
Kinich’s head was starting to spin, a telltale sign that it was time to start fighting back. He willed his fingers into a familiar gesture, shooting a web that successfully caught on one of the pillars holding the roof, which was broken anyway. The bird apparently didn't expect the resistance, getting pulled back almost conically easily. What was a problem, though, was that he would not let Kinich go. And so, he pulled at the webs, holding the creature in place. The thing's wings were unfairly strong - at this rate, the strings would snap.
But perhaps that was what Kinich needed.
He pulled harder and the bird responded by waving its wings more aggressively. Kinich could feel the webs loosening slowly.
One, two, three, four, five seconds of having to breathe in that awful air coming out of the beak and the force suddenly snapped. His enemy was surprised at this, just as Kinich had hoped it would be. It allowed him to slip out of its grasp and because he had anticipated it, catching himself mid air thanks to all the edges of many things around him wasn't difficult.
However, there was another problem shaping in the form of a face that he was familiar with by now. As he was passing the place where a proper door was (or used to be), two pink pigtails caught his attention.
Varesa was over there, awkwardly hidden behind a couple of crates, taking photos of him like she wasn't in grave danger.
Okay, maybe he was wrong about her. Maybe she was one of them troublemakers.
Unfortunately, the creature noticed her as well and there was nothing Kinich could do about it as it made her its next victim, grabbing her into its sharp claws. The girl let out a terrified, sharp yelp. The hero immediately changed directions, silently thanking his far from perfect family for the naturally strong legs he had inherited as he bounced off the containers, all while guided only by the abstract ball in the middle of the building.
The wings, that was its only advantage, Kinich assumed. Chasing it around this way would be pointless. He had to find a way to trap it.
All of a sudden, just as Kinich was about to swing over to the top of the building to take a proper look around, Varesa screamed for help as she was thrown into the air, and the creature made a terrifyingly human sound.
Barely being fast enough to catch it, a green bolt of light sliced through the flesh of its right wing, effectively cutting it.
At the same time, the spiky, colorful ball flickered before rotating rapidly and getting smaller.
As both the bird and Varesa started falling down, Kinich wasted no time getting to them, turning his gaze away from the disappearing phenomenon. He had no intention of helping the ugly thing in any way, but he couldn't possibly let the photographer fall to her possible death. He latched his web onto the roof and effortlessly caught her mid-air, then placed her down on the ground close to the place where the ball had been before, all in one swing, which ended as he landed on the biggest container of them all.
There was one more figure shaping in front of him. His spider-sense, as Ajaw liked to call it, tingled but not in the usual way. It was as if he were feverish, with his head heavy and aching. It made his eyes narrow and eyebrows furrow, something whispering We are the same.
In front of him, there was a taller, much more muscular person standing on the container. Something shifted in Kinich's gut as he noticed the suit that was so similar yet so different compared to his. Although they were both black, this one had a dark green spider decorated by a green flickering gem in the middle covering the chest, its legs stretching into a pattern which Kinich's didn't have - a texture more detailed and shinier than his. There was a cloth matching the color scheme wrapped around his hips. Green, sheer, and extremely sharp-looking blades were attached to the edge of the man's arms from his elbow to his wrist. An unmistakable mask (with the addition of something that looked like headphones attached to it) safely hid his identity, although Kinich could feel the burning gaze on his body as he looked back into the white eyes of the suit.
We are the same.
This man was like him.
(Which made, precisely, zero sense, hello?)
Kinich unknowingly held his breath when the man reached up and pulled his mask off, revealing silver hair and a handsome, toned face with the most unique eyes he had ever seen - turquoise with a bold drop of red dominating it.
“Who are you?”