Silk and Black Cat, beneath the moonlight once again, swang side by side using Silk's webs and Black Cat's grapple hook, watching as three moving trucks owned by the Maggia bobbed and weaved through traffic.
Priority number one for Silk was to stop those trucks, they were carrying God knows what in them and they might hurt someone with their reckless driving. She had already called the authorities, informing them about the attack on Oscorp and the bombs that were supposedly going to explode within a matter of minutes.
Black Cat followed behind her, though she had no clue why. This wasn't her, she wasn't a hero, and she didn't care about Oscorp or saving people. However, Silk's drive was contagious, that hero's glare and that desire to be there for everyone was something hidden inside Felicia Hardy this whole time and was finally emerging.
The three trucks began to split up, two going straight while the other one turned right. Seeing this, Silk yelled behind her at Black Cat. "I'll get those two, you get the straggler! Meet back at Oscorp!"
Like a slingshot, Silk used her webs to shoot herself forward, leaving Felicia behind as she gave chase to the two speeding trucks.
The passenger of the truck in the front looked through his rearview mirror, spotting the heroine chasing after them. "It's Spider-Girl!" He shouted before leaning out of the window with an assault rifle, aiming right at her.
Silk frowned before using her fingertips to craft a shield made of her webbing for herself. Spider silk is known to be five times stronger than steel if there was enough of it, and this was no different for Cindy Moon's webs, hers might even be stronger when concentrated.
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The gunman began firing shots at the hero, though her shield was easily able to stop them in their tracks, surprising the goons. "You seein' this!? I ain't seen Spider-Man do nothin' like that!" The goon yelled before looking back to see that Silk was lunging toward the vehicle with her shield in both hands.
Like a warrior, Silk shouted, "Haaaaah!" as she slammed her shield into the roof of the truck, scaring everyone in the back and causing the driver to begin swerving off the road and onto the sidewalk.
Silk's Silk-Sense began to go haywire, triggering the girl to look up and see that there were civilians on the sidewalk, trying their best to escape the truck that was ready to run them down.
Silk quickly crawled to the front of the truck before breaking the window with her fist and grabbing the steering wheel, turning it to the side and narrowly avoiding any civilians, and turning the truck back on the road.
"This bitch is crazy!" The driver yelled, triggering Silk to yell back.
"Stop calling me a bitch!" She was pissed, having been called that one too many times that day by the Maggia. Silk grabbed the driver, yanking him out of the truck before using her webs to push down the brakes, stopping the vehicle in its tracks and causing the truck behind it to stop as well.
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One of the thugs in the back tried to shoot her, but Silk's Silk-Sense allowed her to dodge it with ease.
This pissed her off even more.
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The thug shot and missed again, only to be met by a lunging fist from Silk, straight to the center of his chest.
The thugs in the other moving truck, seeing no path around, all began getting out of the truck with their weapons in hand. As soon as their boots touched the floor, one of the Maggia goons was sent flying straight through the back door of the truck, crashing onto the bumper of the other truck.
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All of the now-on-foot Maggia members began firing blindly into the truck, emptying their magazines in hopes that they'd land a shot on Silk. However, once the dust cleared and their eyes adjusted, Silk was nowhere to be seen.
"Up here!" Silk taunted before leaping from the top of the truck behind them, kicking two Maggia thugs in the face at once before backflipping in the air, twirling and kicking the last one in the jaw.
Just like that, all of the Maggia thugs had been decommissioned, however, Silk's job wasn't done yet and she immediately slingshotted herself into the air, making her way to Oscorp.
Once there, Silk spotted the police and the bomb squad, stopping in front of them to get a read on the situation. "Ah, Spider-Girl." One of the officers said, bringing a blank look to Silk's eyes.
"It's Silk. Where are the bombs?" She asked them.
"Uhm, well. We can't find any. The dogs have been searching for them, but it seems like it was just an empty threat." The cop said, however, Cindy knew it wasn't that simple.
"Unless... the bombs are somewhere else-" As soon as those words left the heroine's mouth, bombs could be heard in the not so far off distance, prompting everyone to look over at one of the cranes that were being used for a nearby construction sight, one that was as big as most buildings in the area.
The bombs were never meant to be placed on Oscorp itself, no that would've never worked as Oscorp's security was too tight. They planned on using one of the cranes to destroy Oscorp from above. Not only would the crane destroy the top of the building, which is where Osborn's meeting was, but it would also damage the many nearby buildings. There were also bombs attached to the top of it would surely finish the job if Norman somehow survived the crash.
Seeing this, Silk immediately sprang into action, zipping toward the crane before attempting to use her webs to hold the crane in place from the base. Despite her webs strength, they snapped and the crane kept on falling.
Seeing no other choice, Silk sprinted up the crane, hoping to somehow stop it in midair before it could destroy any of the populated buildings, including Oscorp.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five bombs." Silk said to herself, counting the bombs that she could find on the crane as she sprinted up it. Like a gymnastic, Silk lept and swung around the crane, attaching her webs to a nearby building and looping around the crane to hold the crane in place, creating arches in the air for it to rest on. Simultaneously, she was covering bombs with her webs, hoping they would dampen the explosions.
"One!" she exclaimed, covering one bomb in her webs before moving on to the next, sprinting up the crane that was still falling. Once again, she webbed the building next to her and curled around the crane to create a midair loop to hold the crane in place. As she did this, she could see the next two bombs coming up.
"Two and three!" she shouted, webbing two bombs at once as the crane continued to tip, however, it was very clearly slowing down due to her web loops holding it up.
Her plan was working.
Once again, she looped under the crane, creating a snare connected to a nearby building to suspend it in the air. The crane had finally stopped, and now all that was left were the bombs as she continued sprinting up the crane.
"Four!" she said breathlessly as she wrapped another bomb, using everything she had to keep pushing despite feeling exhausted beyond belief.
"Five!" Seeing the final bomb, Silk covered it with her webs before leaping off of the crane's tip and landing on the hook connected to it. As she stood on the hook, she looked back at the Oscorp building that was just beneath her, barely having saved it from taking a direct hit.
"Phew." She took a sigh of relief, looking up at the crane as those below her began to cheer for her, letting human nature's desire to see things up close hinder them from getting out of the way. However, those cheers would be short-lived as Silk's Silk Sense began to go haywire.
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All five bombs exploded and despite the actual explosions being contained inside of her web cacoons, they still applied immense pressure to the crane, causing her webs to begin snapping as the crane began to redirect toward where the evacuated citizens were.
Silk lunged back up to the tip of the crane as it began falling toward the Earth, attaching webs to the building to her left and the building to her right before attaching them to the crane in hopes that it could at least slow it down. She then slingshotted herself through the gap and toward the ground, having no time to think of a real plan.
Silk landed on the ground, looking up at the crane as it continued to fall. It wasn't going to hit any buildings now, but there were still way too many people on the roads. She needed to stop it with her bare hands, just long enough to give everyone enough time to flee.
The crane was falling at a manageable speed due to her webs creating a bit of resistance, but she knew it wouldn't be enough. She remembered what Eren had told her before muttering it to herself.
"Even if it costs me my life."
She sprinted toward the center of the crane, holding it up to ensure that the tip of it didn't crash into the people behind her. "Aaaah!" she wailed, feeling as if her body was ready to explode as she tried her best to hold up her crane in a similar fashion to the Phantom Spider on the night he too decided to be a hero.
This action gave everyone enough time to get out of the way, including those who were still in their vehicles as Silk toiled to hold it up. Individuals soon approached the hero, still keeping a safe distance as she strained with everything she had.
"Is she gonna do it?" One of the onlookers asked.
"I can't. I can't do it..." Silk said, feeling her body ready to give out. She couldn't even gather enough strength to lift it up and get out from beneath it, she was stuck. However, a familiar voice would soon join the hero beneath the crane.
"I gotcha!" Black Cat said, appearing just in time, getting right behind Silk and holding up the crane with her, despite not having superhuman strength. Her addition did nothing to help the hero physically, she was just a regular human. People with Eren and Cindy's spider powers could lift multiple tons on their own while it would take seventy or so people just to lift a single ton. However, seeing her new friend beside her seemingly gave her more strength.
"Cat? Why-" Silk tried to speak but the pain was too intense for her to let any more words out.
"I don't know. But I'm here for you." She whispered, truly not having an answer. She was no hero, just a thief, but she couldn't shake the desire to help. This gesture, though practically meaningless, inspired others to join.
"I'm here for you!" The man shouted, using nothing more than his human strength to try and hold up the crane with the two ladies.
"Stop... You're gonna get yourselves killed." Silk muttered, however, people just kept coming despite her wishes.
"We got you!"
"I'll help!"
"We're here!"
"We can hold!"
"Everyone, together!"
It started with one, then two, then three, then ten, twenty, fifty, before over a hundred people were helping Silk hold up the crane, surrounding the heroine. Of course, none of this would be possible if it weren't for her webs also holding it up and Silk doing all the work, but the people were indirectly giving her strength with this gesture alone.
They weren't helping her physically, but mentally, and the power of the human mind, the strength of willpower can sometimes be greater than a simple boost in raw, physical strength.
"Push!"
"We can do it!"
"Hold, hold, hold!"
Silk began to cry. She didn't know why, but tears were falling down her face as she held the crane above her, shaking due to pouring everything she had into lifting it. The people around her... they were beginning to give her a second wind.
Silk began lifting the crane even higher, giving herself enough space to get from beneath it and avoid getting crushed, but she couldn't just drop it. She needed everyone to get out of the way first, together.
"Everyone count with me! We will release it on one!" Silk screamed before counting down. "Ten. Nine."
A few people joined in with her. "Seven. Six."
Then more joined. "Five. Four."
Hundreds joined her. "Three. Two."
In unison, everyone holding the crane shouted and released the crane, aside from Silk who gave everyone a few extra seconds to steer clear. "One!" Once the area was clear, Silk released the crane with enough space to get from beneath it.
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The crane hit the ground, and Silk fell on her hands and knees while everyone still surrounded her. Silk was still mewling, perhaps due to her body not understanding how to react after having overexerted herself in that way.
Black Cat got down on her knees as well, grabbing Silk by the chin and lifting up her face to look her in the eyes. "Are you okay?" She asked, receiving a nod from the heroine in response. Black Cat smiled. "You did amazing, Silk."
"Yeah! Spider-Woman!" One of the crowd members shouted, however, Black Cat had heard enough.
"Hey!" She shouted angrily on Silk's behalf. "Her name isn't Spider-Woman. It isn't Spider-Girl. It's Silk! Get it right!"
The crowd went silent, looking around at each other before the same man as before corrected himself.
"Yeah! Silk!" He cheered, followed by the rest of the crowd shouting her name.
"Silk! Silk! Silk! Silk!"
Finally, after all this time, people were finally calling her by her name. No longer was she just some cheap knock-off of Spider-Man or his sidekick. No, she was her own hero, her own person. Silk was New York's additional protector, not the substitute teacher for the week.
Black Cat helped the emotional Silk back up onto her feet before shooting her grapple hook in the air. "You ready, Silk?" Black Cat asked, receiving a nod from the heroine.
With no other words said, the two ladies zipped away, having saved hundreds while taking down the Maggia during the same night.
Silk informed the authorities about Silvermane's hideout, which was soon raided by law enforcement. Silvermane was then arrested, removed from his Carbonanium suit, and reduced to nothing more than an old man. His gang was also put behind bars, only a few being able to escape.
The Maggia were done... for now.
The two ladies sat beside each other on one of the many skyscrapers in New York, letting their feet hang off the side as they spoke to one another.
"You did good, Silk." Black Cat told her, smiling at the young heroine.
"You did too. Thank you for your help. I know you said you weren't a hero and all that..." Silk began trailing off, thinking about what would have happened if Black Cat didn't show up when she did. "... If it wasn't for you, I don't think I would've had the strength to hold up that crane."
Felicia continued to smile at the young arachnid, placing her hand on her leg to get her attention. Silk looked up at Black Cat shyly, as the woman spoke. "You're strong, Silk. You just needed a little push is all. And you're right, I'm no hero, but when I'm around you and Spider, it's like your heroism is contagious."
"Yeah... I get what you mean. I'm only doing all of this because of his words. There's something about him... I can't explain it." Silk thought about what Eren said at the funeral, about doing the right thing. He always knew what to say to inspire people, despite never really having much to say otherwise.
"I get what you mean. He's pretty inspiring. There's just something about him that makes you want him to grab your hand and lead the way... He's the reason I didn't kill Silvermane." Black Cat admitted, thinking about that night when Eren spared the Shocker.
"I lost my father. Silvermane killed him. Like Spider, who lost his mother to someone, I wanted to kill him." Black Cat saying this surprised Cindy. Eren never told her about his desire to want to take a life in the past, he felt it wasn't necessary for her to know that side of him existed.
"I just remember finding him at my doorstep, crying and calling himself a coward for not taking that man's life after finally reaching him. He threw himself into my arms, asking why he couldn't do it. I told him it was because he always does the right thing. When I found myself in the same situation he was in, I wanted to be like him for some reason. I chose the right thing... It's silly now that I say it out loud."
Cindy really didn't know how to feel about knowing Eren and her were so close, at least by the sounds of it. She wondered how close they were, but she thought it was best not to even ask. "No, it's not silly at all." Silk told her. "You're just a good person and there's nothing wrong with that."
Black Cat yawned, standing up on her own two feet and stretching her arms. "I don't know about all that." Once she finished stretching, Black Cat placed her hands on her lip, looking down at Silk. "You gonna be alright? I'm heading home."
Silk nodded her head. "I'll be fine. Bye, Cat."
"See ya." The feline said before leaping off the building and swinging away with her grapple hook.
Silk watched, smiling a bit under her mask as she watched her temporary partner disappear in the distance. She thought about how Eren changed both of their lives, in turn saving hundreds of people in his absence unknowingly.
Days passed, and Silk was known by everyone in New York as their new protector, she even had an article written about her from the Daily Bugle calling her a menace, which is a sign that she was doing something right.
However, things weren't all sunshine and rainbows for the young heroine, as there was one person she wanted to speak to more than anything.
Eren Parker hadn't returned any of her calls since the last time they spoke a few days prior. Unbeknownst to her, he wasn't even conscious at the moment and had been that way for multiple days as he recovered in Shuri's pod.
She knew that something bad had to have happened since he promised to never ignore her ever again and he was sincere about that. "Where are you, Eren?" She whispered to herself, trying once again to call Eren to no avail...
Nevertheless, she was confident that things were going to be okay. Though she didn't know it was actually part of her powers, she could sense that Eren was still alive.
Regardless, Silk needed to keep her promise, the one she made to herself on Eren's behalf to protect the city while he was gone.
Standing in front of her mirror, Silk looked at herself.
She was wearing an actual costume now, ridding herself of the makeshift webbed costume for something more heroic. This one was heavily inspired by her Korean culture.
The top half of her costume was a white Jeogori, a traditional Korean garment, with black cuffs at the end of the sleeves. She had a red bandana around the lower half of her face as a mask. On the center of her Jeogori, a red web pattern spread throughout the rest of her top, turning black as it strayed further from the center. In the absolute center of the red webbing, there was a small 'S' to represent her hero name. On the right side of her torso, there was a red bow that hung from her body. Beneath is all, she wore black tights.
"He's okay. Eren is okay. I still have my duties, and he will fulfill his."
With those words said, Silk, sporting her new gear, lept from her window, ready to play the role of New York's protector.