Chapter Text
Wrapped in multiple layers of shirts, a dusty windbreaker, and cargo pants designed to hide the bright red spandex underneath, Haewon was being cooked alive in the afternoon sun. Short, neatly trimmed grass tickled the back of her neck, the faint scent of dirt and fertilizer assaulting her heightened senses. A beanie was pressed firmly over her head, and her vintage headphones sat on her ears, playing an old Day6 album. Eyes closed, she let the melancholy rhythm of the guitar carry her away.
A shadow stopped above her, and Haewon noticed the change in brightness from behind her eyelids. Cracking one eye open, she adjusted her fake glasses to identify the new arrival.
The sun provided a backlight, a sort of halo effect around Lily Morrow’s body. Not that she needed one, in Haewon’s opinion. The older girl’s blonde hair was enough. Even amongst hundreds of natural blondes, she always seemed to stand out in a crowd. From their first serendipitous meeting in an intro to psych class they took together, Haewon found herself drawn to everything about Lily.
Ignoring the sun burning into her eyes, Haewon looked Lily up and down. She wore a flowing summer dress, already taking advantage of the warming weather on campus. A pair of sunglasses were folded on the neck of her dress, but she still squinted cutely while observing Haewon. She held a drink in each of her hands, and a brown leather crossbag hung from her shoulder.
With a slight smile, Lily gestured to her own ears and mouthed something that Haewon couldn’t hear over Sungjin’s voice. Startled out of her reverie, Haewon sat up and pulled off her headphones, the faint sound of powerful drums still beating from around her neck.
“Hi,” Lily greeted.
“Hi.” Haewon stared at her dumbly, not sure what else to say.
Sparing her from further embarrassment, Lily set her crossbag down and plopped onto the grass beside Haewon. She crossed her legs and held out an iced americano. “They were having a buy one, get one half off at the cafe by the west building,” Lily offered in explanation.
Accepting her gift, Haewon sipped the blissfully cool drink from the opening. A surge of energy hit her instantly, and it ironically made her relax. Smacking her lips, Haewon dramatically wiped the nonexistent sweat from her brow. “My savior, what would I do without you?”
“Probably die from overdosing on caffeine. Though, does it make me an enabler for bringing you more?” Lily mused to herself.
Haewon smirked lopsidedly and held in a laugh. Lily looked like she was genuinely contemplating if she was helping or hurting Haewon, and it was just so adorable. Being with Lily Morrow felt like being trapped in quicksand. Or maybe sickeningly sweet molasses. Everything about her slowly swallowed Haewon up until she was trapped entirely, and Haewon didn't want to escape.
“So you just happened to be passing the west building and stopped by the cafe?” Haewon questioned mischievously, hiding her face in her coffee as she took a long sip, like an addict taking a drag of a much needed smoke.
“You make it sound like a crime. My social and community journalism class wrapped up early and I,” Lily nervously fidgeted with her own tea, “well I just had a hunch that it might be worth getting two.”
A swarm of butterflies fluttered in Haewon’s chest, and she pulled her windbreaker tighter around her body. “You only had me in mind, right? Not anyone like Yoona?”
Lily mock-huffed and adjusted her dress so she could move closer to Haewon. “Yoona hates iced americanos, who else would it be for?” Even though she already knew the answer, hearing it from Lily’s own mouth made Haewon feel better.
“So, what were you up to?” Lily asked. “You know, besides being the resident emo on campus.” Haewon choked so bad she started coughing and nearly spat her drink into the grass. Lily grabbed her shoulder in a panic and shook, about five seconds away from jumping on top of Haewon and giving her the Hiemlich. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that!”
Laughing, Haewon waved her off. “No, it’s just- wow, Lily, do you always blurt out the first thing that crosses your mind?”
Lily pouted, though she tried to make it look more like a glare. “Hey, I was asking a legitimate question. You’re out here by yourself, dressed up like it’s the middle of winter with your headphones on. You have to admit, you kind of stand out.”
For the first time since coming out to the west campus park, Haewon properly looked around. The grass pitch was filled with college students enjoying the start of spring. A group was tossing a frisbee around, there were dogs being walked by the small man-made lake near the street, and couples were strolling through the garden area in shorts and tank tops.
Haewon stuck out like a sore thumb in her baggy clothes and beanie. “I didn’t wash my hair today,” she offered lamely.
“So not washing your hair means you have to cover the rest of your body too,” Lily nodded like that was a completely valid excuse. “At least tell me you wore sunscreen.” The sheepish expression on Haewon’s face was answer enough. “Haewon! You’re so pale, you’ll burn,” Lily scolded.
A weird, tingly feeling settled in Haewon’s stomach. Lily’s concern was a strange drug, one that left her feeling off-center and dazed. It scared her how much she liked it.
Mercifully, Haewon’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and cleared her throat, staring intently at the screen as an excuse to not face Lily’s gorgeously sloped nose. As Haewon read the message, she unconsciously started to frown. “What is it?” Lily asked, all teasing gone from her voice.
“Nothing.” Haewon shoved the phone into her pocket and stood up. “Just Jiwoo. She found a- uh- a rat in her room and needs me to get rid of it.”
Lily pursed her lips in sympathy. “Oh, okay. Do you need any help, or-”
“No thanks!” Haewon cut her off quickly. “Thanks for coming to find me. I, uh, I gotta go.” She didn’t waste any more time turning around and bolting down the grass pitch, nearly tripping over her own feet in her haste. Haewon headed in the direction of the off-campus apartments, where she rented a small unit with Kim Jiwoo.
“Wait, Haewon!” Lily scrambled to her feet, the half-finished iced americano in her hand. “You forgot your drink!”
But Haewon was long gone, darting around a couple walking their dog and nearly crashing into them. She apologized profusely while still running, then slipped into the closest alleyway and vanished from Lily’s line of sight. Sighing, Lily set the drink back on the ground and smiled fondly. “Why do you always disappear?” she asked the air, knowing that Haewon would never stick around long enough to answer.
“Did you shrink my suit in the wash?” Haewon hissed, her voice transmitting over the low quality microphone built into her mask. “It’s way too tight in the wrong places.” It was already hard enough trying to fix her suit while swinging between buildings in Queens, and Haewon didn’t need to be photographed adjusting a wedgie while trying to fight crime.
The blue and red of her suit was a flashing sign to anybody below that Spider-Girl was on her way. Everyone from reporters to amateur photographers would rush out to get a shot of her. At first, Haewon wasn’t really a fan of how much attention her suit brought. She wanted something darker and sleeker, but Jiwoo was set on the color scheme and design, and Haewon didn’t really want to fight with her over it. Besides, Jiwoo’s suit design was better than the sweats and cheap bandana that Haewon originally used.
“If it shrank, that’s your fault. I always use the right chemicals,” Jiwoo’s voice crackled, laced with static through the earpiece’s receiver. Haewon grumbled, but chose not to argue. Jiwoo was probably right, anyway. Between the two of them, Jiwoo was a lot more invested in this hero business than Haewon. “The fire shouldn’t be far, it’s down 32nd,” Jiwoo informed her.
Swooping around the bend of a tall, luxury penthouse, Haewon searched for any sign of the massive fire Jiwoo texted her about. Not far ahead, plumes of black smoke were rising into the sky. “Got sight, I’m going in.”
Haewon vaulted over the roof of a nearby building and leapt recklessly into the sky. With her wrist extended, Haewon pressed down on the tiny flap of skin just barely peeking through the holes in her suit. Web fluid zipped out, flying through the air and hitting the side of the burning building.
Her feet slammed into the bricks first and stuck to them. Fingertips pressed into the wall, Haewon hovered six stories above the ground. Rapidly, she scanned the state of the burning apartment complex. Most of the smoke was coming from the middle floors, the dirty and acrid scent already starting to cling to her suit. People were evacuating as fast as they could, the lower floors almost completely cleared out. Haewon focused her super hearing and caught the sounds of cracking and deteriorating beams coming from inside. The middle floors were being eroded with every second she wasted, leaving the tenants on the upper floors trapped.
The first thing Haewon did was look for the fire escape. There were locks along the ladders, and the walkways weren’t up to code at all. They were rusted over, and Haewon had no doubt that they’d collapse under too much weight.
Internally cursing, she climbed up the side of the building, looking for an open window. “The firefighters are on their way, but there’s a major crash a few streets down, there aren't enough units nearby to deal with both,” Jiwoo said.
“I guess I’ll handle this myself, then,” Haewon huffed. Taking a deep breath, she shoved a half open window all the way up and slid inside. Instantly, a wave of smoke assaulted her senses. Haewon wheezed and rubbed the eyes of her mask to clear her vision.
She made it to the main room of the apartment she’d entered through, and her feet hit something. Bending down, Haewon caught sight of a young boy, unconscious. “Hey, can you hear me?” She gently shook him and felt along the side of his neck. He didn't respond, but luckily her fingers found a steady pulse.
Acting quickly, Haewon slung the boy over her shoulder and leaned out the window. She shot her webs at the ground and created a thick, makeshift trampoline. The boy was tossed down, landing safely in the embrace of her sticky webs. “Help him!” Haewon shouted at the shocked onlookers below.
Slipping back inside, Haewon got to work. She ran through the building, calling out for any survivors, relentlessly searching each unit for signs of life. Most of them were empty - it was the middle of the day, so there wasn’t much reason to be inside. Grabbing the few trapped civilians, she tossed them outside and gave them nets to land in, trusting the emergency responders to get them down.
“What’s taking so long?” Haewon asked as she avoided a flaming support beam. There were still no signs of any fire units or ambulances on site, while Haewon kept trekking through the crumbling top floor. “I need backup here.”
“The streets are totally blocked by the pileup, and they’re still helping the crash victims. They’re trying to clear it, but no one can get through right now,” Jiwoo explained, relaying all the info she got from her police scanner.
Haewon grunted in frustration and kicked away a pile of debris in her path. Elbow covering her mouth, she waded through the toxic smoke. “Hello?! Anyone still up here?”
After a few seconds, a choked voice responded. “Here! Th-There’s a bunch of concrete, I’m stuck!”
Focusing her senses, Haewon pinpointed the unit where the voice was coming from. She ran to the door, the wood burning away into jagged spikes. Reeling her foot back, Haewon slammed it into what remained of the door, completely breaking it off its hinges.
Inside was a mess. Tiny fires were eating away at furniture, casting the room in a dark haze. Haewon aimed at the smaller fires and rapidly shot globs of webbing at them. Her webs smothered the flames, extinguishing them and keeping the apartment unit from becoming impossible to navigate.
Shielding her eyes, Haewon looked around for what the trapped tenant described. Along the side of the apartment unit, part of the ceiling had caved in and buried the entrance to the bedroom. A woman’s voice came from the other side, burdened by heavy coughs and gasps. “Hello? I’m in here!”
“Okay, stay calm, I’m coming to get you,” Haewon promised. A web thwipped out of her wrist and stuck to the piece of concrete on top of the pile. It was caved in from the roof of the building, and smoke was rapidly escaping through the widening hole. Pulling methodically, Haewon rapidly calculated weight distribution in her mind, figuring out which pieces were safe to remove and which ones would cause the rest of the ceiling to collapse and bury the girl within.
The concrete was carefully cleared away, at least enough to create a human-sized gap for Haewon to crawl through. In the small bedroom, a tall girl with cropped black hair was holding a bedsheet to her mouth. Her face was covered in soot, and her shoulders heaved with every breath. Still, when she saw Spider-Girl climb through the entrance, her eyes widened exponentially. “Spider-Girl!” she shouted, her voice practically piercing Haewon’s sensitive eardrums.
“Yeah, it’s me, hi,” Haewon absently greeted while checking the girl’s state. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, I-” she tried to take a step towards Haewon, but her legs buckled. A warning tingle shot up Haewon’s spine and she grabbed the tall, slender girl around the waist before she could hit the ground.
Lifting and cradling the girl against her chest, Haewon ignored the fact that the tenant was much taller than her, creating an awkward dynamic. Instinctively, Haewon looked to the window first, but flames creeping up the side of the building were already licking at the frame. That wasn’t an option.
With no other choice, Haewon carefully maneuvered the girl through the hole in the debris and back into the central room of the apartment unit. “My name is Bae. Jinsol Bae,” the girl introduced herself, head resting on Haewon’s shoulder. Her long legs squeezed around Haewon’s waist so she wouldn’t slip off, another reminder that Haewon was painfully short in comparison to the average New Yorker.
“Nice to meet you, Jinsol. I’m Spider-Girl, and I’m gonna get you out of here.”
“I know,” Jinsol said brightly, then immediately hacked violently. Haewon sped up her pace and used a web to swing over a fallen section of burning floor. “I’m a big fan.” As Haewon landed, her senses perked up, the hair on her arms standing at attention. She launched into the air and grabbed onto the wall just in time for the floor beneath her to crumble. Jinsol clutched her harder around the neck, and Haewon choked from her death grip.
“That’s great to hear,” Haewon wheezed, “Can you hold somewhere else?”
“Oh! Sorry,” Jinsol apologized and moved her arms down so she wasn’t strangling Haewon in an accidental headlock.
At the end of the hall, an untouched window waited. But the surrounding walls were caving in, and the floor was engulfed by the raging fire. “Don’t let go!” Haewon warned. Jinsol buried her head further into the crook of Haewon’s neck and dug her heels into the superhero’s waist.
Two webs shot from Haewon’s wrists and stuck to the wall above the window. She pulled back, heightening the tension, and then released. Jinsol and Haewon rocketed down the hall, and Haewon pointed her feet forward. The webbed bottoms of her suit impacted the glass, and it shattered outward.
Together, Haewon and Jinsol flew through the air and into a freefall. “Oh my gosh!” Jinsol yelped as her hair whipped into her face.
Undeterred, Haewon thwipped a web at the side of the building and yanked. She quickly spun and cradled Jinsol’s body to protect her from the impact. Landing against the hot bricks next to the unsafe fire escape, Haewon inhaled the fresh air into her aching lungs. She slid down the building until her feet hit the ground, and voices started clamoring around her.
“Is there anyone left inside?”
“Spider-Girl, my jewelry is still in my apartment!”
“Just a hug, we met a few months ago-”
Haewon ignored all of them and pushed her way through the crowd. A safe distance away from the building, Haewon set Jinsol down on the sidewalk. “Are you okay?” She reached out to wipe the soot from Jinsol’s cheeks, but thought better of it.
For a few seconds, Jinsol could only stare at her, wide-eyed. “I can’t believe I got saved by Spider-Girl.” She clapped a hand over her mouth like she was about to start crying. “I got saved by Spider-Girl!”
“And you almost weren’t saved. Next time you’re being suffocated by smoke, don’t talk so much,” Haewon scolded. Then, almost apologetically, she offered, “but I’m glad you’re okay.”
Coughing a few more times into her elbow, Jinsol fumbled with her pocket and pulled out a phone. “Could I- Could I get a selfie before you go?”
Haewon looked at her incredulously, although she wasn’t sure how it came off with the mask hiding her face. The building behind them was still burning and, finally, the sounds of sirens were echoing from down the street. People were crowding around them, and survivors were crying as their homes went up in flames. And in the midst of it all- “You want a selfie?” Haewon clarified.
“Well, uh, yeah. It would mean a lot to me. And my apartment just burned down, so you can at least give me a commemorative selfie, right?”
Haewon continued to stare at her, then groaned. “Fine, fine.” She squatted down next to Jinsol, and a sudden, uncomfortable shiver ran up her spine. Haewon’s vision narrowed, and she turned around, peering past the throngs of people attempting to get her attention. Cars drove by as usual, and firefighters were running out of their trucks, already deploying the necessary hoses and ladders to fight the blaze.
The scene was exactly how it should be. The tenants escaped the building and the fire was being contained. Spider-Girl saved the day . But something still felt wrong, like an itch in the back of Haewon's mind that couldn't be scratched.
“Spider-Girl…?” Jinsol called her again.
Snapping out of her head, Haewon forced herself to look back at Jinsol. “Huh? Right, yeah.” Throwing up a peace sign, Haewon leaned into Jinsol’s shoulder and shook off the strange feeling. “Say thank God Spider-Girl just saved my life.”
Completely unironically, Jinsol repeated, “Thank God Spider-Girl just saved my life!” and snapped the picture. She held the button down, capturing at least twenty before Haewon dropped her peace sign and stood up.
“Firefighters are here! Everyone stay away from the building!” Haewon ordered. With the emergency responders on the scene and tending to the victims, Haewon took it as her cue. She shot a web at the roof of the nearest building and jumped into the air. Jinsol and the other passerbys watched her with open mouths.
“Thank you, Spider-Girl!” Jinsol yelled, her voice breaking as she devolved into another coughing fit. She clutched her phone to her chest like it was her most prized possession. Considering her apartment just burned down, it might as well have been. “You’re the best!”
“Oh Haewon, you’re the worst,” Yoona muttered and shoved her shoulder.
Jolting out of her half conscious state, Haewon sat up in the small, sparsely decorated study room she’d booked. “What? Huh, what’d I do?” she slurred, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Helpfully, Yoona picked up her glasses and handed them to Haewon. These days, they offered no benefit, but they were a good cover, so Haewon still wore a pair with no prescription.
“I’ve been working for the past hour on our report, and I turn around and you’re basically asleep,” Yoona scolded.
How ironic, Haewon thought, to be told off for sleeping by the girl who slept her way through most lectures. “Sorry,” she yawned and stretched her arms above her head. “Didn’t get much rest last night.”
“Were you out smoking?”
Haewon froze and glared at Yoona. “No, I would never do that.”
Yoona shrugged disingenuously. “Well, you smell like smoke. And you have that aesthetic.” She gestured once again to Haewon’s baggy, dark clothes and the ballcap she refused to take off. The first time Yoona came over to her apartment, she discovered Haewon’s massive hat collection. The dozen caps and beanies were never something that Haewon was embarrassed about until that day.
“Why do I feel like you meant to say something much worse?” Haewon mumbled.
Again, Yoona maintained her innocent demeanor, but Haewon wasn’t fooled by her princess face. “What am I supposed to think when you show up exhausted most days, smelling of dirt or smoke? Be glad I’m only asking if you’re smoking. I could have stranger suspicions.”
And even though Haewon knew that never in a million years would Yoona connect her to Spider-Girl (she could imagine Yoona’s reasoning: “Spider-Girl is way too much of a humanitarian to be Oh Haewon of all people”), she still felt an uncomfortable shiver run through her body. “I wasn’t smoking,” Haewon repeated. “There was a barbeque near my apartment, Jiwoo dragged me to it.”
The explanation hung between them, as flimsy as paper. Thankfully, Yoona decided not to press any further. “Can you take a look at what I’ve drafted so far? I got through most of the body, so I left the lab result analysis for you.”
Haewon slid across the room on her chair and bumped lightly into Yoona’s side. Wiping her eyes of any remaining muck, she leaned forward and read through Yoona’s report. Naturally, it was intelligently written and well thought out. It was why Haewon liked having Yoona as a partner. Despite her tendency to sleep her way through major courses, her work always turned out exceptional. She held herself to high standards, maintaining a steady 4.0 GPA.
In contrast, Haewon wasn’t sure why Yoona liked working with her. Most days, Haewon was unreliable at best, and she’d cost them both serious points on a final report two semesters ago when she was literally tied up in battling the Vulture. Haewon asked once why Yoona kept putting up with her, and Yoona gave some bullshit answer about them being friends, so Haewon still remained in the dark on that front.
“Mm, looks good,” Haewon said while passing the laptop back to Yoona, “but I think you’re kind of vague when describing the outcomes we got in the intro. I know the hallucinogens didn’t give us any direct results, but the null is still worth bringing up. You should explain that at the beginning so I don’t sound insane when I write the analysis,” she advised.
Hands on the keyboard, Yoona wrote a couple notes in the margin of the document for future editing. “Okay, I think that’s enough for today.” She glanced up, eyes flitting to outside the window. “Is that Lily?”
As soon as she heard that name, Haewon panicked. She flopped out of her chair and hid beneath the desk, right at Yoona’s feet. Pressing her back against the wood, Haewon curled into a ball, her neck craned painfully to avoid bumping into the top of the desk. Yoona looked at her like she was insane, her lips parted halfway through an unvoiced exclamation.
The door to the study room opened. “Hi, Yoona, have you seen Haewon around?” Lily’s light voice floated through the air. Haewon tensed and made herself as small as possible.
Yoona’s eyes darted down, and Haewon desperately pleaded with her not to say anything, silently promising to do whatever Yoona wanted if she lied right now. “Uh, no. She left earlier,” Yoona drew out each word like she wasn’t even convinced by her own answer.
“Oh.” Lily idled by the door, and Haewon prayed for her to go away. “I thought you two were working on your organic chemistry midterm project.”
“Yeah, I thought so too,” Yoona said, a tiny bit of bite in her words. Wincing, Haewon apologetically patted Yoona’s shoe. “She was falling asleep, so I sent her home.”
“Haewon? Asleep?” Lily asked. She paused. “I guess that’s a good thing.” Sighing, Lily leaned back out the door. “We should hang out soon, Yoona. Maybe when midterms aren’t so chaotic. Oh, and if you talk to Haewon-”
“Yes, I’ll tell her to contact you.” Yoona shooed Lily out the door, and the older girl looked at her in confusion, but allowed herself to be fielded away.
Once she was sure Lily was gone, Haewon peeked out from underneath the table. “Thank you, Yoona. I owe you like… a million dollars.”
“You’re broke,” Yoona responded plainly.
“I got a new job!” Haewon defended herself. “I’ll treat you to lunch, I get employee discounts.”
“Where, at Stu’s Sandwich Emporium?”
Haewon smirked. “Better than that. Subway.”
Yoona curled her lip, less than impressed. “Sure. Also, get up. Why were you hiding from Lily?” she asked, pulling Haewon by the arm so she’d crawl out from under the table.
“I’m not hiding, it’s just-”
“That was definitely hiding.”
“I can’t talk to her right now,” Haewon continued, ignoring Yoona’s interjection. “I’m too busy, and I feel weird whenever she’s around. I get distracted, and there’s too much going on for me to lose focus.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Yoona rolled her eyes. “I hate to say it, but it’s your fault for working so much. You wouldn’t be nearly as busy if you didn’t insist on trying every part time job under the sun. This running away from Lily thing is never going to last.”
Haewon rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. She knew the image everyone had of her. The emo loner who scraped around for any job she could possibly get. A resume longer than a college admissions packet, and yet she never stuck around long at one job. There was no possible way Haewon could explain she had to keep quitting because the jobs got in the way of her Spider-Girl duties.
It was a vicious cycle. She’d quit a job on the spot to run out and stop a crime or some villain of the week. Then, rent would inevitably be due, and Haewon would realize her parents’ meager tuition allowance wasn’t enough to cover her and Jiwoo’s apartment. So she’d get a new job and repeat.
“Why don’t you just confess to Lily?” Yoona asked casually as she packed up her laptop. Haewon choked and seized like she was having a heart attack. She bent over her chair and clutched the table for dear life. Yoona recoiled and looked her up and down. “Why are you acting like that?”
“Confess? Confess what to Lily!?” Haewon yelped.
“...That you like her?” Yoona was utterly baffled by Haewon’s overdramatic behavior. “It might solve all your distraction issues if you stop pining uselessly.”
“I’m not- I’m not pining.” Yoona gave her a blank expression. “Okay, maybe I’m pining, but I don’t- I can’t be in a relationship with Lily.”
Yoona pulled her backpack over her shoulder. “Why not? She clearly likes you back.”
That sent Haewon spiralling into another babbling fit. “You don’t know that. What if she’s just being nice? Lily’s nice to everyone.”
“Yeah, but not the way she is with you,” Yoona pointed out. “Does she come into study rooms asking you where I am? Does she buy drinks for her friends in her major, or invite other people to tiny concerts for those indie singers she likes?”
A sudden, churning, sick feeling rose in Haewon’s gut. “Does she?” she asked, borderline nauseous. “She doesn’t do that with any boys, right?”
“Not that I know of,” Yoona confirmed, then shook her head. “You’re both hopeless, honestly.”
Haewon could only groan and slump into her seat. The truth was, she couldn’t allow herself to even consider if Lily actually liked her back. Being with Haewon wasn’t safe, and she couldn’t afford to distract herself with a relationship, not while she was the sole hero in New York City. So any childish fantasy of dating Lily was reduced to just that - a fantasy.
Having some degree of sympathy, Yoona patted Haewon’s shoulder as she walked past her to exit the room. “Consider giving it a shot. It’ll save me a lot of trouble if you two actually communicate for once.” Yoona exited through the door, leaving Haewon with her own thoughts. After a second, Yoona reappeared. “And finish your part of the report! I’m not covering for you if you forget the deadline again.”
“Sorry,” Haewon mumbled pitifully. She dropped her head, landing face first on the table. Not bothering to move, Haewon endured the awkward pinching of her glasses against her nosebridge. Yoona hesitated at the door, trying to decide if it was worth comforting Haewon. In the end, she shut the door without a word and left Haewon to wallow.
No matter how hard Haewon tried to juggle everything, it was feeling more and more impossible. She needed to work a certain amount of hours to make her half of the rent, but she was constantly running out for Spider-Girl duties. She couldn’t sleep at night because crime shot up when the sun went down. It haunted her, like some kind of fucked up line graph. Her deadlines came and went before Haewon could catch up, trapped in a constant backlog of classwork that she had to beg her professors for extensions on. And Haewon couldn’t face Lily, because she’d sink into those big eyes and get bewitched by her smooth, full lips, and then Haewon would truly be screwed.
Being an adult was supposed to be hard, but not this hard, Haewon thought. Somewhere, deep inside, the wish that she never became Spider-Girl at all festered.
Haewon snuffed it out before it could grow any bigger. She wasn’t allowed to wish that. Not after her sister clutched her hands and begged her.
Haewon’s spiralling thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She lifted her head and stared at a jittery freshman clutching his backpack. “Uh, sorry, I think I have this study room booked right now.”
Haewon let out another long groan.
“O-Or I can just come back later!”
Night patrol always felt exhausting and neverending. Typically, Jiwoo went to bed early, and Haewon hated asking her to stay up to monitor the police scanner they'd both gone through way too much trouble to steal. So Haewon would spend most nights alone, scanning streets the old fashioned way. She’d hop from building to building, eyes peeled for any sign of dangerous activity that she needed to break up.
Through the goggles of her suit, Haewon’s enhanced vision caught sight of a small group of darkly dressed thugs at the entrance to a jewelry store. One of them swung a bat at the display window, shattering the glass and setting off a loud alarm through the buzzy night air. Haewon sighed like it was a real shame. “You couldn’t give it a rest for one night?”
She leapt off a nearby roof and plummeted towards the ground. Wind rushed against the aerodynamic contours of her suit, whipping past her ears as Haewon divebombed the group of robbers snatching all the jewelry from the display cases.
Right before landing, Haewon shot a web at a lamppost and looped around it, perching expertly on top. “Hey, idiots!” she called down to them. There were five thugs, and they panicked when they heard her voice. Beneath the ski masks, their eyes darted about before settling on Haewon above them. “You know the stuff they put on display is worth like… nothing compared to the jewels inside.”
“Shut up, Spider-Girl,” the one with the bat growled. “We don’t care about bleeding them dry. We just need the money.”
“And you think I don’t need money too?” Haewon threw her hands up dramatically. “I’ve worked more jobs than I can count on my fingers just to make rent. But do you see me resorting to crime? No, I drink an abnormal amount of coffee and don’t sleep, like a proper New Yorker should.” She conveniently left out the fact that she was studying abroad and not actually an authentic New Yorker, but they didn’t need to know that. Haewon wasn’t sure how New York City would react if they knew that Spider-Girl was living in the city on a student visa, but she wasn’t really keen on finding out.
One of the thieves reached in and grabbed a necklace. Faster than lightning, Haewon threw her hand out, a web spurting from her wrist and stopping him in his tracks. “I can think of a few people this would look better on than you.”
The necklace was yanked out of his hand, and Haewon vaulted off the lamppost. She landed in the middle of the group and attacked without hesitation. Ducking under the wild fists of the first thug, Haewon kicked his ankles to force him to his knees, then darted to the next one. She dodged a knife thrust at her face and jumped onto the wall, high enough that the slash missed her abdomen. “You know, you’re supposed to point the knife down so you don’t STAB ANYONE-” Haewon yelped the last two words and flipped over the leader, who swung his baseball bat at her ribs. “Not cool!”
“Dammit, Spider-Girl! Mind your business!”
“When you’re robbing a store in my city, it kinda is my business!”
Haewon was leaps and bounds ahead of these petty criminals. They were uncoordinated, and she easily bounced off the walls, even using a nearby manhole cover to knock one unconscious. She winced when he went down and offered a belated, “Sorry, can you afford a dentist to fix that? I can’t,” and then promptly had to drop to the floor to avoid getting shanked.
Before long, she had the thugs groaning on the floor, and a pair of them webbed together and trapped against the wall next to the broken window. “Can I ask one question?” Haewon asked, leaning forward like a petulant kid with a smirk hidden behind her mask. The men on the wall grumbled, but were firmly wrapped up in her webs. “Are you two a couple?” That only resulted in more noises of disapproval.
Abruptly, a tingle ran up her spine, and the hair on the back of her neck rose. Haewon stiffened, and her reflexes took over. She backflipped and landed in a crouch, facing the danger. The last remaining thug managed to stand up while she was distracted and sprinted at her with the abandoned bat. He wound back, aiming to smash Spider-Girl's head in. He was reckless, and Haewon let him approach, her fist tensed and ready to take him down, until a new voice intervened first. “I’ve got it, Spider-Girl!”
Appearing from seemingly nowhere, a body zipped onto the scene and tackled the man. His feet were swept out from under him, and he hit the ground in a heap. The newcomer, a lean girl in red and blue, stuck her hands out at the man and pressed her wrists in an exaggerated motion, similar to the way Haewon would while swinging through the city. "Webs, go."
Webs shot out of her wrists and splattered on the man’s face, covering his eyes and mouth. He hacked and rolled over. “Sorry! I’m still figuring this out,” the girl apologized genuinely. In repeated attempts to get her aim right, the girl shot at least eight different times, pinning each of the man’s limbs and covering his chest in sticky residue. Then, she took a wide stance and crossed her arms. “And stay down,” she added after the fact.
Haewon stared at her in utter horror.
The girl was wearing a knockoff Halloween costume of Spider-Girl, sans the mask. Instead, a more breathable medical mask sat over her nose and hid the bottom of her face entirely. Her sharp, feline eyes were exposed, and she wore a red beanie with knitted cat ears on top. The costume had no gloves, so Haewon could see the girl’s neatly manicured fingers, and the tiny holes on her wrists where excess web fluid was drying.
“What the hell are you?” a thug tied to the wall scoffed. “Some sorta spider-cat hybrid thing?”
The girl’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Exactly. Spider-Cat,” she said proudly. “And I’m here to, uh,” she hesitated for a second, trying to think of a quip that sounded like Spider-Girl. “I’m here to take you to jail and um… punish you for your crimes!” She didn’t seem satisfied with her flat zinger, muttering to herself about workshopping in her free time.
Cotton was stuffing Haewon’s brain, like being on a flight from Incheon to JFK without her ears popping once. Her senses were going wild with this girl in close proximity. A powerful feeling in her chest was dragging Haewon towards her. The hairs on her arms stood at attention, intrinsically understanding some kind of familiarity between them. This strange, imprudent girl had webs, just like Haewon. She jumped in to stop a fight, just like Haewon.
She was putting herself in danger, just like Haewon.
The static and chaos of Haewon’s spider senses stabilized, finally aligning with the girl. Quietly, it soothed her, an inaudible whisper in her ear promising that being near the new girl was good for her.
But while Haewon was quietly horrified by her appearance, the girl was excited. That’s what set Haewon off.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Haewon hissed and stomped up to the girl (Spider-Cat?).
“Me?” Pointing to herself like a cartoon character, the girl straightened herself out. “I’m stopping crime, just like you, Spider-Girl.” Then, softly, “We have the same powers. I couldn’t wait to meet you, I’ve been practicing for weeks!”
“Weeks? You-” Haewon cut herself off and put a hand to her aching temples. “Why would you come out here? Why would you put on that costume?”
Spider-Cat tilted her head in a way that was eerily similar to an actual feline. “I did it to save people. To be a hero, like you.”
A hero like Haewon.
“You have no idea what it takes to be a hero,” Haewon growled and took a menacing step towards Spider-Cat. She couldn’t believe a girl, probably some hapless teenager, was throwing herself to the wolves. “It’s not coming up with quips or attacking people on the street. You shouldn’t be here.”
The more Haewon admonished her, the more the spark in Spider-Cat’s eyes faded. Her shoulders sank and she wilted like a flower as New York City’s most infamous golden girl reprimanded her for what she thought she was doing right. “But we're the same. Am I supposed to hide my powers? No,” she stood firm. “I’ll become a hero.”
“How did you even get-” Haewon’s voice cut off as a wave of psychic pain surged through her. Her spider senses exploded in violent warning, adrenaline and fear seeping through her veins before she could identify the threat. Whatever it was, Spider-Cat wasn’t safe from it either. She gasped and hunched over, unused to the intensity of her own powers.
Haewon spun in the direction of the anomaly, but a massive force slammed into her chest before she could see what it was. The air was knocked out of her lungs, and Haewon went airborne. Flipping over herself, Haewon flailed and shot a web out, but it didn’t catch on anything. Her back hit the brick wall of the jewelry store and left an impact mark. Agonizing pain shot up her spine, and Haewon crumbled onto the concrete, her ears ringing.
A familiar, chilling cackle sounded through the air, coming from right in front of her. “So we meet again, Spider-Girl. I’ve been waiting so long to see your beautiful face,” the voice mocked her.
Dread pooled in Haewon’s stomach, and her pupils shook beneath her mask. “No,” she whispered, her spider senses going wild like a blazing alarm. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’re in prison. You can’t be here.”
Above her, Green Goblin laughed his signature, clown-like bellow. He floated on his silver glider, swaying a few feet off the ground. Metallic green body armor enveloped him, and his mask was massive and pointed at the chin. His haunting eyes spelled madness, but in a way, Haewon preferred this horror to the man underneath it all. She might truly break if she had to face Norman Osborn again.
“Do you think your flimsy Raft is enough to contain me?” He tilted his masked head. “You’ll never truly be rid of me, Spider-Girl. I’ll keep coming back no matter how many times you put me away. You’ll have to kill me just like you killed my son before I ever let you go.”
Her heart pounded frantically. Two years had passed since Haewon dared to look at so much as a picture of Norman Osborn. His suit was newer, but the aura of fear that surrounded him was exactly the same as she remembered.
Quickly, Haewon shot a web behind the villain and pulled. She used the force to propel herself into his chest, but Green Goblin’s reflexes were faster somehow, like he could predict her moves before she made them. He dodged effortlessly and snatched Haewon by the back of her neck as she flew by.
Gagging at the pressure on her windpipe, Haewon couldn’t twist free from his grip. He tossed her into the sidewalk, the concrete cracking from the force. Haewon curled into a ball and groaned, dull pain running through her ribs. That would definitely leave a nasty bruise tomorrow.
In a flash of red and blue, Spider-Cat swung through the air and launched a kick at Green Goblin’s back. She let out a war cry in a desperate bid to help Spider-Girl against her most famous nemesis. But Green Goblin caught her by the collar of her cheap costume before she could make contact. “Hello, new spider. I’ll have fun playing with you too,” he chuckled. Spinning in rapid circles on his glider, Green Goblin threw Spider-Cat with inhuman strength. She flew through the air, completely out of control, and slammed into a nearby car, sending the alarm into a frenzy. Whimpering, Spider-Cat slumped onto her side and went still.
The grating sound of the car alarm forced Haewon to her feet. It wasn’t just about her history with Green Goblin. He was dangerous and unhinged. If Haewon didn’t stop him, then this new girl, in over her head, would end up seriously injured, or worse. Gritting her teeth, Haewon took a defensive fighting stance. “Norman, you aren’t healthy. You belong at the Raft, where they can help you.”
His laughing devolved into a manic fit. “Help? I don’t need help! The only thing I need is to destroy you, Spider-Girl.”
Finally, Green Goblin took the initiative. He flew straight at Haewon, but she shot a web against the lamppost above her and jumped over his glider. Pushing off the lamppost, Haewon landed on Green Goblin’s back and hugged him like a violent koala. “Stop this, Norman! You can’t keep hurting people!”
Screaming high and unnatural, Green Goblin thrashed and tried to buck Haewon off. “I’ll kill everyone you love! I’ll make you suffer the way I suffered!” He pulled out a pumpkin bomb and clicked the timer, willing to blow himself up if it meant taking Haewon with him.
In a panic, Haewon webbed up the bomb and threw it into the air, then vaulted off Green Goblin and landed on the floor in a crouch.
Norman was losing more of himself, and somewhere inside of her, Haewon felt pity. He’d lost his mind after his son died, and he blamed Spider-Girl. He’d turned himself into an unrecognizable person in his pursuit to protect his son, and then into a monster to get revenge on Spider-Girl. Silently, Haewon hated him as much as she feared him.
Norman Osborn had no way of knowing he’d already done exactly what he swore to. He’d already killed her sister, and a part of Haewon along with her.
Lost in his own mania, Green Goblin threw more pumpkin bombs, each more dangerous than the last. One was tossed in the direction of Spider-Cat’s hunched form, and three more at the tied up burglars. “Shit.” Haewon jumped on top of a car, and as she flipped into the air, she shot webs from both her wrists and grabbed two of the bombs heading for the criminals. Swinging her arms, Haewon knocked them into the third bomb. All three were sent careening down the empty street, exploding with an ear-piercing boom.
In a last ditch effort, Haewon threw her body forward and used her chest to block the bomb flying at Spider-Cat. The pumpkin bomb hit her in the stomach and immediately went off.
Fire filled Haewon’s vision, and the explosion sent her spiralling through the air, tearing the chest of her suit into strips. She cried out in pain and rolled on the ground, landing in the middle of the street. Haewon tried to push herself up, but her arms wobbled and gave out. There was a mechanical whirring, and Green Goblin stepped off his glider.
He stopped beside her and put one boot on her burned chest. Haewon wheezed as he pressed down, driving the air out of her lungs. Her body was aching, and her ears were ringing again from the bomb.
“Do you think about me as much as I think about you, Spider-Girl?” he asked. “I dream about you every night. About moments like this.” Green Goblin pulled out one of his sharpened, metallic bat boomerangs and pointed it at her face. “I almost killed you last time.”
Lowering the blade, he affectionately traced her jawline. “This time-”
“Spider-Girl!”
Back on her feet, Spider-Cat ran across the street with a mix of desperation and zealousness. With a super strength that didn’t suit a girl with such a thin frame, the girl picked up the manhole cover that Haewon used earlier to defeat the burglars. She wielded it like a frisbee and, with all her might, threw the manhole cover at Green Goblin’s back.
Green Goblin spun around and let out a screeching exclamation. So prepared to crush Spider-Girl beneath his foot, he never anticipated the arrival of a new hero to ruin his plans. Right as the manhole cover made contact, Norman Osborn burst into a cloud of green smoke.
Haewon coughed violently as the smoke invaded her lungs. Rolling onto her side, she tugged the bottom of her mask over her lips to hack the toxins out and inhale clean air.
“What the…?” Spider-Cat murmured, looking around the scene. All traces of Green Goblin were gone. His glider vanished with him, and his pumpkin bombs had no residue, besides the impacts left by their explosions. “How did he- can Green Goblin really do that?”
Disguising her shaking hands by pressing them into the floor, Haewon swallowed deeply. “Apparently. And now he’s loose." She closed her eyes and took a few seconds to steady her breathing. "Whatever damage you’re imagining he can cause, it’s worse. I have to stop him before he touches anyone else.”
Spider-Cat grabbed Haewon by the arm and helped her stand. Reluctantly, Haewon accepted her presence and stopped trying to shove the young girl away. “Come with me,” Haewon sighed and put a guiding hand on Spider-Cat’s shoulder. “Let’s talk somewhere else.”
From the entrance of the jewelry store, one of the thugs yelled at their retreating backs, “Hey, what about us? Are you just going to leave us here?”
The two heroes ignored them and limped away from the scene, slipping into an alleyway and out of sight.
The man grumbled, webbed almost cheek to cheek with one of the other thugs. “I knew picking Spider-Girl’s Queens was a bad idea.”