Chapter Text
Anna Shcherbakova had a secret.
She was Spider-Man.
She also had a problem.
Alexandra Trusova was talking about Spider-Man. The same Alexandra she totally did not have the biggest fattest crush on.
"You know that weird spider hero—the one thats gets the city covered in webs," Alexandra said as they walked through the crowded hallway before the first period,
Anna nearly walked into a locker.
"Spider-Man?"
"Yeah." Alexandra adjusted the strap of her backpack. "She looks... cool… I guess. The first few videos looked like she was making everything up as she went."
Because I was.
"But honestly?" Alexandra continued. "She looks decent now she doesn’t look like a baby deer stumbling anymore."
Anna forced a smile.
"That's nice."
"I mean it." Alexandra pulled out her phone, already opening another shaky video from the internet. "Look."
The footage showed Spider-Man swinging between apartment buildings before catching a falling delivery scooter with a web and gently lowering it to the street.
The comments were full of theories.
Who is she?
Former gymnast?
Government experiment?
Alien?
Anna quietly wished someone would guess "overworked high school student who forgot to study for tomorrow's chemistry quiz."
"Her landings are so clean—how strong are those webs…” Alexandra said.
Anna had spent three weeks practicing those landings after accidentally crashing through a rooftop greenhouse.
"I'm sure she practices," Anna muttered.
Alexandra laughed.
"You sound like you know her."
Well…
...
That afternoon, Anna was halfway through physics when her phone vibrated.
One message.
Unknown Number.
Bank robbery. Leninsky Avenue. Police pinned down.
She didn't ask who kept sending the alerts anymore she just simply raised her hand.
She gave a meek smile to her teacher "I don't feel well." She muttered.
Five minutes later she was climbing onto the school roof. The uniform disappeared beneath the red-and-blue suit she kept hidden inside her backpack.
A deep breath.
A leap.
Then the city caught her.
Swinging still felt impossible.
Every time she launched herself between buildings, there was one brief second where gravity insisted she had made a terrible mistake.
Then the web held.
Then she flew.
...
The robbery was already a disaster. Masked men carried military weapons. Hostages lay on the floor. The police couldn't get close.
Anna landed silently on the side of the building.
"Okay," she whispered to herself.
"No crashing through windows this time." She immediately crashed through the window.
Glass exploded.
Every gun turned toward her, "...Hi."
The shooting started.
She moved before she thought.
Bullets blurred past.
Her web wrapped around a rifle.
Someone threw a grenade.
"Oh, come on!" She groaned.
She caught it with a web, yanked it back outside, and it exploded harmlessly above the street.
Within ninety seconds the fight was over. The robbers hung upside down from a streetlight like confused bats. Police officers simply stared between Spider-Man and the dizzy men.
One finally spoke utterly confused, "...Thanks?"
Anna gave an awkward thumbs-up. "You're welcome." She fired one last web and disappeared into the skyline.
...
By evening every news station had the footage.
Every social media page had slowed it down frame by frame.
Spider-Man saves twenty-three hostages.
Spider-Man defeats an armed gang alone.
Spider-Man still crashes through the window.
It was one window!
...
The robbery had started the same way they always did. Anna swung through a skylight, landed on the polished marble floor, and immediately webbed two rifles to the ceiling.
"Really?" she sighed. "Banks again? You know there are other crimes." She teased, it felt weird and out of character for her but it was kind of fun.
One of the robbers charged.Anna sidestepped him with ease, sending him crashing into a pillar.
Another reached for a hostage. Before Anna could stop him, she heard a sharp yelp. She whipped around recognizing that voice she heard not too long ago.
Alexandra.
Alexandra Trusova stood near one of the overturned desks, having stumbled backward as the robber grabbed at her arm.
Anna's stomach dropped.
She launched a web, yanking the man away so hard he skidded across the floor before sticking to the opposite wall.
"You alright, pretty girl?" Anna asked, rushing over.
Silence.
Anna's brain caught up with her mouth.
What.
Did.
I.
Just.
Say?
Behind the mask, she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole.
Alexandra blinked. Her cheeks flushed a bright red. "Oh... um... yes. Thank you..."
Anna cleared her throat.
"Right. Good." God she was such a loser.
She spun away before she could embarrass herself further, webbing another criminal upside down. A few minutes later, the last robber was tied up like a very confused cocoon. Police officers poured into the bank, securing the scene.
Anna was already halfway to the shattered entrance when she glanced back. Alexandra was rubbing her wrist where the robber had grabbed her. Without thinking, Anna walked back over.
She said praying to God no one heard her flirting with an inherently random citizen, "You sure you're alright?"
Alexandra looked up, still looking a little flustered. "Yeah, thank you again."
Anna nodded.
Alexandra glanced at her, "...Just one question?"
Anna tilted her head. "Hm?"
"Why Spider-Man?" She asked, genuinely confused.
Anna laughed. "Well... I have spider powers."
For a second Alexandra simply stared.
"I mean yeah—I just meant you're a woman are you not?”
Anna shrugged. "I know."
That seemed to just confuse the girl even more "So why not... Spider-Woman?"
"The public gave me the name." Anna scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "When I first showed up everyone assumed I was a guy. By the time people realized they were wrong, 'Spider-Man' was already everywhere."
"So it just... stuck?"
"Pretty much."
"Huh."
Anna shrugged again.
The two of them stood there for a second before one of the officers called out, "Spider-Man! Can we please get a statement!"
Anna smiled sheepishly, "Well…"
Alexandra smiled,
"You should probably go."
"Yeah..."
Anna shot a web toward the ceiling.
Just before she swung away, Alexandra called after her. "Hey, Spider-Man?"
Anna looked back at her classmate that she may or may not have referred to as ‘pretty girl’
"Thanks."
Anna gave a small salute before disappearing through the broken skylight.
Alexandra watched until the red-and-blue figure vanished between the buildings.
Then she looked down at the floor. A tiny strand of web clung to the sleeve of her jacket.
She reached up and absentmindedly touched the spot on her wrist, "...Pretty girl?" she mumbled to herself, face heating all over again.
For reasons she couldn't explain at all, she found herself smiling the entire walk home.