Dynamic Duo
1.7
"Okay," said Peter. He was sitting with his phone out, the back light set low. "We need to give them a lot of evidence. Make the arrests less about us and more about the criminals and what they did. Looking at it, Daredevil only really caught Wilson Fisk when he tried to escape, most of the work was done by some lawyers. Nelson and Murdock."
"Any connections to Daredevil?" I asked. "It makes sense if you're going to be doing this as he does, to have lawyers on hand."
Peter shrugged. "I'm not really sure. All I know is stuff I'm reading on this blog." He sighed. "I really hate how boring this is. Nothing?"
"This is a stakeout," I said. "They're usually boring. At least you can have your phone out. If I wanted to be a hard-ass, I'd have you with binoculars, focusing on our targets."
"That'd just be torture," he said, his attention going back to his phone.
I focused on my bugs, on their senses of the conversation half a block away. There were four people in the Boss's apartment. They'd been there for the last half hour and nothing had come off it yet. There'd been no talk of operations, no talk of their targets, not even talk about dealing with Spider-Man and the Swarm. But then it was possible we'd missed our opportunity, that these guys thought they no longer had to worry about us and were staying quiet.
"I remember reading a book," I said. Peter looked up. "The Good Reverend. It was…this experimental bio-punk thing, with something of a niche following."
"Okay?"
"Well, the Good Reverend was trying to save the world against an oppressive government, wake people up and show how truly evil of their world was, what they'd settled into. But the government had weapons in the shape of kids. One of them was a social manipulator and he had this thing he called, 'Shaking the Box.'"
Peter was interested now, his phone forgotten.
"People settle into too much of a pattern, they gain security in it, a sort of strength. The social manipulator believed in shaking the box, messing up the routine and staying ahead of the chaos. This is all paraphrased, of course."
Peter was nodding. "So, here…"
"We shook the box when we got their people arrested, but then we disappeared, did nothing when they were on the alert. Now they've gotten comfortable again, settled, they don't feel like moving and they're just chatting and drinking."
"You want to shake the box."
I nodded. "We shake the box, show them we know where they live and they'll scurry. They'll look for safe places and they'll start wondering what we know about the rest of their operation. They'll move to check on things, in the doing give us more info about their operations."
"Okay," said Peter. "I don't get why you're telling me."
"Because I have a one-track mind."
"You know that was a joke, right?"
"But it's true. I'm thinking on this and the only things I've considered is what will follow after this," I said. "I'm focusing on things we'll do, how we'll act and so on, but further than that…" I shrugged.
"Like the entire thing with Aunt May? Us skipping school?"
"Yeah," I said.
He sighed. "Okay. First thing we should be asking, will people get hurt?" he said. "Both now and after. Are there people in the apartments around them?"
"Yes," I said. "But the three surrounding apartments, three below and three above are empty. I think it's a privacy thing."
"Okay," he said. "Less people to think about, but…there's still the chance they might take a hostage if things aren't going their way."
"Means we have to move faster. Make sure the damage is limited, increase the pressure but give them room to escape. Which, we'll have to be on the watch out for, there's only so many times we can let someone go before they start to notice."
Peter nodded. "Big picture. We don't have to worry about much," he said. "We'll be the ones attacking which means they won't think this is a gang war. Yeah, I think we can shake the box a little."
I nodded, starting to prepare. I already had silk lines on me, but now I made more, starting to disperse it to the bugs who'd be in the thick of it. I thought about sending out my Black Widows and Darwin Bark spiders, but it would be too much of a risk. I hadn't had time to breed them yet and priority was them making our costume than they were on helping us win minor fights. I had to remember the long term, spend less time swept up in the short.
Three blocks worth of bugs closed in, filling up the walls and preparing for an attack. With the added mass of bugs, the conversation was much clearer, the information I was getting from my bugs richer.
"You should be there too," I said. "So things aren't suspicious." Peter nodded and stood, looking over his web shooter and even firing a test web. "Remember the breakdown?"
"Yeah," he said. "Four guys, all of them with two guns each and at least one of them with a set of knives. They've also got the tinker gun, so we'll have to be on the lookout for more."
"I'll go in first," I said, "figure what the tinker gun does and then relay it to you. But—"
"First thing I have to do is disarm them," Peter said. "Yeah. I know. Now, let's shake the box."
I started carting in bugs, moving spiders towards them to start binding their weapons.
"Heads up, it's here," a voice said. At once all of them were on their feet, pulling out guns before my bugs could finish binding them in place. They all stood back to back, scanning. "Show yourself, Swarm. We know you're here."
I focused on Peter, feeling how he was moving. None of my bugs would be able to catch up. I moved bugs on the roof of the apartment building with the gang, hoping Peter would see it. I focused back in on the apartment, having flying bugs take to the air and cluster together. I used the smallest number of bugs that could speak.
"Somehow you knew I was here," I said through my bugs. I'd tagged them and they hadn't noticed, yet when a large enough cluster of bugs had gone into the room, they'd had. Either an ability which sensed large enough bio mass or a tinker device.
"Got some new toys," said the speaker, a gangly a man. "Knew it was only a matter of time before we had you on our ass again. Where's the Spider, anyway? Isn't he your partner?"
"Indisposed," I said. "That's a cool looking gun. What does it do?"
It really wasn't cool looking, instead it looked like what this world believed future tech would like: A bulbous thing with satellite-like protrusions. It was the picture of a ray gun.
"You'll find out soon enough," he said, his tone smug.
"I guess I will."
Roaches scurried out the walls, fliers and winged bugs jumping and taking into the air. I congealed them, making a hard form that swooped to the man with the ray gun. He took the bait and pressed the trigger. The sound of a triangle reverberated and with it a large swathe of my bugs turned to dust.
I heard something landing on the roof and I saw Peter.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"They have some tech or power, they could see me. I was talking to them and they fired their gun. It kills a lot of bugs. I don't know what it does to a person. Wait while disarm."
Peter nodded. I pulled in more bugs and spread them out in a cloud. He fired and took out a section, quickly moving to the next and firing again. I had more bugs flood into the room, coming in from all sides. He took a step forward, pressed the trigger in a long press, spinning in a circle and taking out more bugs.
The twisting around should have hit his friends, but that they weren't hurt probably meant it was safe for people. Peter would survive a hit from the ray gun, but there were regular guns to keep in mind.
The shooter chuckled as he kept shooting, firing a long shot which kept killing bugs. I moved them around, congealing the bugs into minor swarms all moving to attack. They weren't reaching their goal, the cluster of men in the middle of the room, but they weren't the crux of my plan.
Bugs filled the air, a large swarm that clouded visibility. More than that, I was directing their attention, bringing in swarms at eye-level all to make them miss the crawling bugs on the roof, forming a mound above their heads that dropped and surrounded them.
The screams started then and so did the gunshots, wild and frenzied. Bugs started succeeding in jamming the guns, while others were moving to get silk around the still holstered secondary weapons. But they weren't fast enough and the guns were grabbed. I thought about starting to bite, but…I pushed the thought back, focusing on jamming the guns. It worked. There really was no need to bite except it would make the whole thing move along faster.
"There's shooting," said Peter, his voice breaking.
"Sorry," I said. "Couldn't get close enough to disarm them first. But they've largely stopped. The weapons are jammed but be careful."
"Yeah," said Peter. He ran and jumped off the roof, firing a web at the building's side and changing course. He swung into the apartment building, crashing through a window. I heard him hiss as he landed in a roll. "Can't see!"
I parted bugs and the man with the ray gun quickly got to his feet, reaching at his side, pulling out a knife and throwing it in the same moment. Peter bent, catching the knife and he screamed, stumbling back. He started to fire, but another knife was already flying. Peter stumbled back, falling hard, whimpering.
I congealed bugs into a humanoid form and had it stand over Peter. The process meant I pulled bugs away from the quartet, leaving them relatively clear. I had my clone scream something inarticulate before it rushed forward.
"Scatter!" said the shooter and they all ran in different direction. I moved to the closest two and swarmed them, stopping their run. Attention on the two fallen thinned out my swarm and I couldn't get the last two. They bolted out of the room, down the hall towards the stairs.
"They're gone," said I said. Peter stood, webbing up the guys we caught. "You were grunting."
"Glass sliced me on the way in," he said.
"What you get for jumping through a window," I said.
"Them?"
"Police are already on the way," I said. "But web up their mouths and arms together. Better safe than sorry." He nodded and did as I'd asked, with more care, he got out of the window and started crawling up the wall.
"Everyone in the building okay? Stray bullets are dangerous," he asked when he was on the roof.
"Nothing I'm hearing," I said. "Come back quickly. Our guys are in a car. We might lose them."
"Be right there."
***
"Second time," said Freddie. "I'm beginning to think this is a pattern. You think the Swarm and Spider-Man might be after us."
Thirteen in total when including their boss. Ox was there as well as someone who looked strongly like Ox though with softer features; Pony Tail, they'd called him Montana, was also there; as well as the guy with the gun, Fancy Dan, which wasn't working. They were at the back of a butchery in Astoria, sitting around a table and almost all of them quiet save Freddie and his lieutenants.
"At least the Vulture's tech works," said Fancy Dan. "His machine beeped when there were bugs, but it was all sort of useless when they were flooding the place."
Freddie sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "A few thousand spent on these things and he subverts them with ease."
"Not ease," said Fancy Dan, a grin on him. "We hurt the Spider, we took out some of the Swarm's bugs. I don't know what that means with the whole powers crap, but…" He shrugged. "That's good, right?"
"We don't know," Freddie said, still with that sigh in his voice. He took in a breath and let it out. "I think it might have been better if it was just the Spider. He's strong and fast, he's got those webs, but with the Oxen we're likely to take them down. Bugs, though…"
"We could just use bugs spray," said a man. Freddie gave him a long look. Peter chuckled besides me as I repeated everything that was happening in the room. "What?" the man said. "It makes sense."
Montana gave the man a slap on the shoulder. "The Swarm took down a sound-cannon," he said. "What makes you think he won't be able to fight bug spray?"
"And if he can't handle something, he'll just brings in Spider-Man," said Freddie. "With those webs, he could easily pull the bug spray out of our hands."
"We could maybe build on that," another man said. "Get the Vulture to make a set of aerosol bombs with bug spray."
Freddie sighed. "We might have to," he said. "But we've already spent a lot of money getting the gun and the scanners. We'll have to act and act quickly. We have three locations on Gao. We'll have to hit one, take their merchandise and move it as quickly as we can. We'll use that money to deal with Spider-Man and the Swarm before Gao retaliates."
"What about how the they found us?" said the leaner Ox. "Either someone let something slip or they're following us somehow."
The room descended into silence.
"The elephant in the room," Freddie said. "It either means we have a mole or they have a way of finding us."
"Hard to figure out which of those is the right option," said Montana. "Sure, we've had the scanner since they first hit us, but Fancy Dan and the Big Man are the only ones who've had scanners. They're the only ones who can know for sure that the Swarm hadn't bugged us."
"If he bugged us, then what does that mean for the operations we do have," said one of the men whose names I hadn't committed to memory. "Our greenhouses."
"You don't have to worry about that," said Freddie, confident and brooking no argument.
"That's worrying," Peter muttered. "It means we haven't shaken the box enough."
I only hummed, listening to see if they would give us anything more, but no questions were asked and we couldn't infer the answer. He was confident because…he already knew we'd intentionally let them go? It wasn't possible, Peter's webs took two hours to dissolve, not time enough that any corrupt police officers would have been able to get a message and relay it to Freddie. Or was he so assured in how he ran his operation? Was he so secure in the controls he'd put in place?
"A part of me wants to increase the pressure," I said. "Show them that even here they aren't safe, push them until they slip. But that'll mean they get desperate."
"Bigger chance they get reckless," said Peter, "hurt people." I gave him a nod. "Not something we want."
We were both quiet, listening to the conversation that followed, it was mostly an after-action report, with Freddie wanting as much information about the fight as could be given. The more I heard, the more questions were asked, I had the feeling he was geared toward strategic thinking. It didn't do us any good drawing this out.
"How about we shake the box another way," Peter said. I didn't need to, but I looked in his direction. "I've been thinking about lawyers, representation in case things go bad. With vigilantes, Jessica Jones is the only person we can really use as a baseline, things we might be able to achieve and things we can't."
"Point," I said.
"Mental wiki-walk," said Peter. "Lawyers onto Jessica Jones onto Private Investigators. They gather evidence and it's usually admissible, right? So, I was thinking we follow these guys, take pictures of them in incriminating positions and we use that to get them to actually stay behind bars."
"We still have the problems that we do now," I said. "We don't know their operations. We don't know where we'll be looking for them. Largely it'll just be us waiting around, not knowing if we're moving forward or not."
Peter shrugged. "So? This isn't the only thing we're doing, right? We're still training, still patrolling and getting public perception on our side, still making costumes and thinking about the big picture. I don't know if you know this, baby sister, but that's a lot. We can afford to take it slow here, make sure we do everything carefully."
I took a breath and then slowly let it out. "I'm too focused on getting all of it done," I said.
"It's your one…goal orientated nature showing itself again," he said.
I smiled. "Good save," I said and I sighed again. "I'll need something to occupy me." Peter snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. "Part of my power means I can stretch myself in multiple directions. It's why…I get so bored sometimes, when teachers tell me I have to focus on them when there's three blocks worth of information to just take in."
"Does using your body help?" he asked. "Like, does it occupy you to be using your body more than your power?"
"Some," I said. "I can sort of set myself on autopilot. Though I don't like doing that. I have to pay more attention if I'm doing things I'm not used to."
"Okay," said Peter and he smiled a bright grin. "Fighting?"
"Some things hold my attention better than others," I said. "Karate no longer takes up the same space it did at first. I think it would be marginal. You're thinking I should increase my repertoire?"
"I was more thinking parkour than anything," he said. "Help you with the mobility angle. Sure, there's some places you won't be able to scale, but…"
"Yeah."
"Also, a part of me thinks you'd look good in a leotard." I gave him my most terrified expression. "I know you can't ignore this because it's actually a good idea, so…gymnastics, baby sis."
"I—"
"Told you I'd pay you back for the yoga," he muttered, a large grin.
Dynamic Duo
Interlude
"What's going on?"
Peter took a breath and it hitched. For the last hour he'd been sitting on his own, contemplating. Aunt May had always told him that crying was healthy. Then it had been easier, everything had seemed worse, all colour having gone from the world. He'd understood for the first time what being close to a Dementor would feel like.
But did the same apply here?
No one had died. In fact, this seemed like a normal part of school. But…it still hurt, how people had looked at him, how they crowded around him and were just laughing. No one doing anything because…
He tried and failed to take a breath, there was the hitching again. He'd been close to making the decision to cry, get the release, and Taylor had stepped in at the worst time, when it was all so close to the surface.
"I—" one word and his voice broke, eyes started to burn before tears started running. He quickly wiped them away.
Taylor didn't cry. She hadn't cried all through Uncle Ben. She'd just been there, not doing anything because emotion wasn't her, consoling wasn't her.
"Peter…" she started. She would stop and gape. Peter turned and saw this was true, Taylor was standing there, looking at him. "I don't know what to do."
"I'd like a hug," he said.
"I can do that," Taylor said and she let out a breath, coming forward and getting into bed with him, giving him a one-armed hug. She was quiet, brushing his hair as he tried to hold it in, tried to push his mind away and failing. "You're being bullied, aren't you?"
Peter didn't answer, thinking about telling her. Taylor didn't say anything, only brushing his hair. She wouldn't say anything, it wasn't her. There would be the needed silence, but she wouldn't let it go.
"I…I'm being teased," he said. "It's…not physical, which makes me think it's not bullying."
"You're crying," said Taylor. "Because of it, I think that's enough for it to be bullying."
Peter sighed. "I don't know what to do," he said, turning to face Taylor, hoping she might give him something.
"Yeah," she said, her expression hadn't changed, there was nothing in her voice, but there was something in her eyes. "I get it."
***
Bugs were everywhere. He had his goggles on and wore a silk mask so bugs couldn't get into his mouth, nose, eyes or ears, but they were still annoying. They were so clustered together it was impossible to see beyond them.
"Hey," said Taylor and Peter reacted, twisting around and firing a web. It was the wrong move because he tilted, everything going head over heels as Taylor started throwing him to the ground. He curled and landed, striking but Taylor was already gone.
"You're too slow," she said and Peter couldn't help the impulse to twist around. Even so he was alert enough to be on his guard. He felt it as she started moving, hairs standing on end. His arm came up and he prepared to catch her incoming attack but she noticed, going lower and catching him at the legs.
He tipped over, curled and landed feeling his hairs standing on end again.
It was too late, Taylor must have jumped because Peter felt both her feet landing. He'd been getting up and his centre of gravity was off, he stumbled back and was only able to remain on his feet because of his preternatural balance. He fired a quick salvo where Taylor had been, she would have fallen and worked to get up, hopefully she hadn't moved far enough for him to miss.
"Have I caught you yet?" he asked.
"No," Taylor returned, sounding all around him.
Yeah, he thought. I have.
He fired again, a wider spray hoping to catch her. Hair he didn't even know he had on his face stood on end. he turned and though he couldn't see anything, ducked low. He was hit but a thick wall of bugs. He didn't topple over, but he was covered in them.
In bugs.
He panicked, trying to bat them off him only for a knee to slam into his chest. He tried to grab and felt as Taylor rolled away, getting to her feet and running. Peter jumped to his feet.
"You know," he said. He was not breathing hard, but he hurt. Momentum, the relatively lower surface area and the hardness of the bone behind a knee strike. Worse yet, he hadn't fallen correctly, hitting the ground instead of rolling with the impact. "I feel like you're taking out your aggression on me because of the leotard. This isn't supposed to be physical."
"I can talk and fight at the same time," said Taylor. Peter didn't take the bait, but it wasn't bait. She struck him behind the knees and he fell forward, twisting and grabbing at her. Bugs were immediately on him, getting under his gloves and crawling on his skin.
He screamed.
A laugh reverberated around him as Taylor scurried back, out of his hold. The bugs fell away and all the flying bugs around them parted. Taylor had her hands on her knees, bugs started to crawl off her while spiders descended, falling on her hair. Peter shivered and then noticed Taylor was still laughing. His cheeks started burning.
"Okay, okay," he said. But Taylor didn't stop. "You know, I was holding back, right? I couldn't punch too hard or I'd break you."
"It's more likely you're going to get in a scuffle with people that break than not," Taylor said. She stood, wiping away tears. "That can't be an excuse."
"Yeah. Yeah," he said. "You were holding back when we were fighting before."
"I still am," she said. She walked away, going to a box at the end of the room. She wasn't focusing on it, but bugs were still moving, working together they pulled at the threads of webs he'd shot out. Two hours before they dissolved and enough time to be used in their next sparring match. Peter made a mental note to watch out for trip lines both low and high. "Water?"
"Yeah." She picked up the lid of the box and thread over her shoulder, throwing hard enough it sailed to him. All without looking. Peter caught it without trouble, but the gears worked and the answer formed. "You still have bugs on me, don't you?"
Taylor shrugged, sitting on the box. "Lice," she said. Peter shivered, his hands going to his head, he felt his stomach starting to twist.
"That is so disgusting," he said. "Please don't."
"But you don't even feel them," said Taylor. "You're just creeped out by the idea of them."
"Yeah, and? Because to me it sounds like a perfectly rational creepiness. What if…what if you fall asleep and they breed and they infest."
Taylor directed a look his way. "You trust me with Black Widows but this is so hard?" she said. Peter didn't know what to say, so he only shrugged. "Anyway, the lice are something I'm starting to use to see if they can escape their scanners. It's not something I've always been using."
"Good then, but it really doesn't help me now, does it?" he said. "Can you get them off me?"
Taylor shrugged and flies started descending, moving to his head, elbows and knees, staying there for a bit before taking off.
"All done," she said.
"I don't trust that you're telling the truth," he said. "That could all have been for show."
"It mostly was," said Taylor, a grin on her. "I had them jump off when you asked."
Peter scowled. "I can't trust whether that's true or not."
"Then you have to choices, baby bro—" It was instinctive at this point that he just scowled, "—either you force yourself to believe me, or get used to bugs creeping and crawling, scurrying and skittering all over you."
Peter shivered, more so when he felt a bug in his suit, crawling up his arm. He held back the scream, but there was still the discomfort. Taylor hadn't missed it, a large grin plastered on her.
"This is for the leotard," he said.
"This is for the leotard," she admitted. "But don't worry. I really don't have bugs on you. Focus less on that and let's do an after-action report. What did we learn?"
"I need to work on my senses," he said. "I sort of have this…thing where I can feel when an attack is coming, even the direction, but…" He shook his head. "I couldn't read it well and I didn't integrate it into how I fought."
Taylor nodded. "That's the one power I think you should be working on the most," she said and she changed. The mirth was gone and there was a deadly focus. "It's hard to conceptualise especially with how hero movies trend, but strength isn't all that great a power. I mean, it's still good, but you're still limited. Run hard enough and you'll dent the ground, hampering your own mobility, grab something fast enough and you're more likely to break it than use it to hurt your opponent."
"So my strength shouldn't be the focus," said Peter and there was a sigh in his voice. "You always say that and I use my strength with my webs. I hamper mobility, act on all angles, but that's sort of hard with you because I'm trying not to hurt you."
Taylor let out a sigh. "Maybe I'm repeating this too much, but the fundamentals—"
"I shouldn't forget them, yeah," he said. "Think on the fly, try and learn about the opponent, figure them out, how they use their abilities and counter that instead of having a staple sense of how to fight."
"Then why weren't you using it against me?" she said. There wasn't a frown in her voice nor her expression, but Peter could feel it. He knew what was coming and shifted.
"Because it wouldn't be fair."
Taylor let out a breath and there was a slight bit of disappointment. She looked at him and Peter saw something older in her eyes, he saw as a myriad of thoughts passed by and something of an idea form. He didn't like it, because he hadn't liked the last time.
"No fights are fair," she said. Her eyes looked the same. "It's very important you understand that. So let's go again."
Peter swallowed. Yeah, this was going to be bad.
***
"Look," said Flash, his nose was red with plaster on it. "I'm…I'm sorry, okay?" He sniffled. "I get it, that I've been an ass and…even if I have my own issues, I shouldn't take them out on you and I never will. I'm sorry for what I've done, even if the words aren't enough."
"Um…" Peter shifted. "I don't understand. What's going on? What happened to your face."
An adulterated fear passed over Flash. He shook his head. "It's nothing. I just…fell. I've—"
"Was it Taylor?" he asked, because it was just too convenient. Flash stumbled but kept walking, not looking back. But Peter could tell. He let it gestate.
***
Taylor was breathing hard but Peter hurt. Too many times he'd been caught by an excess of webs, his course altered hard enough that he couldn't reorient and he'd fallen. Both of them were laying on the ground, with Peter holding his side.
"You jump kicked me," he said.
"Yeah," she said between a breath. "You're a brute and that instinctively invites challenges of strength. You have to be prepared for that."
Peter groaned. "So that's what that was," he said. He closed his eyes, taking breaths to calm down. Adrenaline was still pumping through his system and with it, there came the flood of sensory perception: The air hit his skin weird, his heart was noise as blood flooded his system, his vision got finer and blurred for no good reason, reacting oddly to light. But breathing helped, pushing everything else back while focusing on the now, being here.
"What what was?" said Taylor.
"The look in your eyes," he said. "The last time I saw it was before Flash came to school with a broken nose. It was me talking about fairness wasn't it?"
Taylor let out a long breath. Peter opened his eyes and took a glance at her. She was slightly unreadable. "Concepts of fairness are…misplaced in what we're trying to do. I feel like if you hold onto them, you might hold back at the worst of times."
"So you were trying to carve that away?"
Taylor shrugged. Peter took a breath and with his senses still dialled up, he felt as Taylor shifted, looking at him.
"You don't like it?" she said.
"It feels like you're…turning me into the sort of person you want me to be," he said and he sighed. "I mean, I get it. You're preparing me for this, what I wanted, but…I still don't like it, you know? I don't feel comfortable."
"I get that," she said. "Sorry."
"It's…okay as long as you stop doing it," he said. "Or at least run it by me first."
"I will," she said. "Again, sorry."
Peter gave her a smile. "I like this place," he said. "Even if we're technically breaking and entering."
"No one's using it," Taylor said, "and we aren't messing anything up. This is a very good example of a victimless crime. More likely that the owner might get offers to buy this place if people knew it was the training grounds of Spider Man, the Swarm and…me."
"Still not sold on a name?"
Taylor shook her head. "Nothing is really resonating," she said. "I'm leaning towards Lacewing, but that makes people think flight."
"I don't even know what a lacewing is," he said. "You could make it work."
"But the wing gives it away," I said. "Wing and flight go together."
"Some ants have wings and they don't fly."
"But some do fly and most things with wings fly," I said. "It's a symbolic thing."
"We could maybe commission something that could make you fly," said Peter, he sat up. Taylor turned and looked his way, she raised a brow. "I've been reading, thinking about ways to make stronger silk for both of us. Mine still needs a lot of tinkering, which is sort of hard now with everything, but yours could be easier."
Peter took a glance and grinned, getting more excited because Taylor seemed interested.
"Well, it's research scientists have been doing with spiders, exposing them with water with carbon-nanotube or graphene and seeing their webs after the effect. In some cases, the silk from the surviving spiders is stronger than it usually is. The problem though, is the research is hard, it's not like these guys have a way of making the spiders produce silk."
Taylor let out a sigh. "Oh good," she said. "You're thinking we just look into companies researching this and working with them."
"Yeah. What did you think?"
"That you wanted us to find carbon nanotubes or whatever the other one was," she said. "I would have told you I don't even know what that is. Nano-thorns I know, but nanotubes?" She shook her head.
Peter frowned. "Nano-thorn?"
"Like…" She frowned. "Fuck, I can't remember the explanation. Um…nano….things that are blades? And they slide between atoms to cut?"
"Holy fuck, you're talking about severing molecular bonds," he said. "How would that even work? Where did you even hear about something like that? That's next gen tech for sure."
"From a past life," she said and she snorted. She turned and noticed Peter was scowling. "Maybe a sci-fi book. Really not sure, it wasn't explained very well, which means it must have been sci-fi."
Peter deflated. "It would have been awesome if it was real," he said. "Anyway, it's a good idea, right? The Swarm visits and is willing to work, keeping some of the surviving spiders. We get upgraded silk and we get money on the side, it'll likely be better than us searching the city for a crime."
Taylor hummed. "We still have the problem of how," she said. "Pretty hard to make a contract when you're a Swarm of bugs."
"Which is where my brilliance kicks in," Peter said.
Taylor snorted. "Careful you don't toot your own horn too much," she said. "It could break."
"Ew, Taylor, no."
"I think that your mind went there says more about you than it does about me," she said. "But let's move on before this gets awkward."
"Okay," he said. "My brilliance. Hogarth, Chao and Benowitz. They're the firm representing Jessica Jones with everything connected with the Kilgrave guy. She works with people with powers, she might be able to set this deal for us."
"We'll have to come up with a fully formed presentation," Taylor said. "High class place like that might trend towards looking at profit, but they'll do a risk and reward analysis and we have to show that it's better to work with us even with the present risk."
"How do you think we should do it?" Peter said, keeping his smile down. Taylor started speaking and it was almost natural, breaking down the type of people involved and how they were likely to think, what they could do if they wanted this to work out.
This was Taylor in her element, reading people and breaking them down. Once upon a time Peter had thought that she would make a good politician, if she wanted to, she could manipulate people pretty well. And then, the incidents had started:
***
"Holy crap," said Ned. Peter had been focusing on finishing off his homework. He could have done it at home but putting it off didn't make sense when he could just do it now. Ned hadn't felt the same and he'd been watching videos on YouTube. "Peter, your sister's close to being viral."
"What?" he said, looking up. Ned pressed his phone and the image filled the whole screen. He started the video over:
A hallway with kids milling through it, chatting and laughing. There were a few cliques standing, looking towards a row of lockers and laughing as they talked amongst themselves. There was a banging.
"Please," said a voice from the lockers. "Can someone—" The voice broke and there was banging again, laughter from one gaggle and then a girl stepped through a throng. Her expression was cold as she looked around, taking everyone in and walking to the locker.
"Combination," Taylor said.
Peter shivered.
The kid on the other end recited, speaking low so only Taylor could hear. She pulled the lock and opened it. Inside there was a kid, a little taller than Taylor, thin and his face red of embarrassment. It got even worse as a cluster started laughing, the sound spreading through the hallway.
The camera momentarily moved away from Taylor and the boy, only returning as Taylor walked with purpose towards a group of four boys, all of them taller, all of them bigger and wrapped up in their laughing. One of them noticed, tapped his friends and they all looked at Taylor, breaking into louder laughter.
Taylor waited, standing in front of them, looking up with her cold expression.
The laughter died down.
"You got a problem?" one of them said, most likely the leader.
"In a moment I'm going to have all of you on the ground, squealing like the cowards you are," she said, not shouting but speaking loud enough for people to hear. The leader was about to laugh but he didn't the opportunity, Taylor had stepped forward and kicked him in the groin. He bent forward, catching himself but Taylor punched him in the jaw, sending him stumbling back.
The boy fell, tried to climb to his feet and he couldn't.
The other three were momentarily distracted looking at their friend and that was time enough for Taylor to pull off her backpack and throw in one motion. She caught one boy in the head, sending him stumbling away. She moved forward a step, punching one in the side and ducking low as the last of the three tried to grab her. Another hit, open palmed and it caught one boy in the nose. He stumbled back and hit a row of lockers, his hands going to his bleeding nose. He slid to the ground, holding his head up.
Taylor stepped back, looking at the two still standing.
"You're thinking about running, but that would be social suicide," she said, her voice still cold. "These two can cop out, say I caught them unaware and that's why they're on the ground right now. But the same won't fly for you. You run and it's going to stick. You try and fight me and I'll beat you down, beat you down hard."
She stood, staring down the two, they didn't move.
"You're pieces of shit," she said. She looked around. "All of you."
A crowd had gathered and there was silence, it was broken as a woman stepped through.
"What's going on here?" she said.
"These four ingrates put a kid in a locker," Taylor said. "I showed them how powerless they are." She shrugged. "Your move," she said to the teacher. She stepped forward and the two boys shuffled away. Taylor only grabbed her bag.
"Mr Ramirez's office," she said. "You two to the nurse."
He hadn't been able to get proof and he'd been a little too scared about asking Taylor, but he knew it was true, this was the thing that had happened to Flash Thompson.
"I think I'm in love with your sister," said Ned.
***
"She's too direct," said Peter. "When she's got a goal, she goes all-in. But it's worse because she's creative, she can think about multiple angles to attack from and she works at it until she succeeds."
"You're afraid she'll do the same thing with you? With the promises she made?" said Dr Drumm.
"Yes?" said Peter and he sighed. "This feels dirty, talking about my sister like this."
"You're trying to clarify your thoughts," the man said. "There's nothing wrong about that. You have concerns and voicing them helps, allows you to gain perspective."
Peter sighed. "Does she talk about me?" he asked. "When she's doing this?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer that," said Drumm.
Peter smiled. "Yeah. I don't know. Guess I would have felt better if I knew she did," he said. He gave Drumm a look, hoping the man would let something slip but he didn't, only looking at him.
"We were sparring," Peter continued. "And…a part of me thought I could beat her. I'm faster, stronger and I have my webs. Both of us are holding back, I've seen how she uses her bugs, getting them in people's eyes and mouth," he shivered at the thought, "and she doesn't do that with me. But she still won more than I like. She controlled the ground, she distracted me, used webs I'd fired at her to bind me, using her own webs. She tracked me, figured out where I usually jumped and how I dodge and put barriers in my way."
"You're going back to her being creative," said Dr Drumm.
Peter shrugged. "That's what my mind keeps jumping back to. If she can be that creative when her blood's pumping, then how much better is she at it when she can think." Peter sighed. "I'm paranoid, aren't I?"
"Do you feel you have reason to be?"
"I don't know," said Peter. "I just…she has this term when she'd describing the Big Man, Freddie, the guy we're trailing. Mastermind, she says they're the people who work in the shadows until they've got all their ducks in a row and they act. She told me the best thing to be when you're dealing with them is to be paranoid, question the information you get, what they do, look for traps, that sort of thing. It's put this idea in my head that Taylor's a mastermind."
"At least," said Dr Drumm, "if she is a mastermind, she's one working to enforce the law. She's doing good."
"From what I can see yes, but…what if she's doing stuff in the shadows?"