Miles took a deep breath, shaking his body to warm up his muscles. As he glanced below he saw a few hundred floors down, the streets of Brooklyn filled with everyday pedestrians going on their daily commute.
"Boy, I should not have looked down." Miles winced, taking a step back.
His gaze rose and he saw the roof of the next building beside him.
"Alright, all I have to do is leap from one rooftop to the next," Miles said to himself, trying to give himself a boost of confidence. His mind went back to the streets he had seen a few seconds ago. "The only thing I gotta worry about is missing and hitting the ground. No biggie."
You could tell that his confidence was at an all-time low.
"Screw it! I ain't no bitch." Miles exclaimed before he took a few steps back. Once he had gotten enough space for a running start, he charged down the roof and leaped off the edge.
Miles felt his body float through the air as his body lunged toward the next roof.
'I'm going to make it!'
But contrary to his belief, Miles' body began to head downward.
It seems he had not put too much strength into his leap.
"Oh crap!" Miles cursed as his body hit the side of the building. As his body fell, he hurriedly used his hand to stick himself to the wall.
His body slammed pretty hard to the wall but at least he hadn't fallen to the concrete ground.
Panting heavily, Miles looked down and stared at the street. It seemed that little stunt of his had caught the attention of some of the pedestrians as they had pulled out their phones and began recording him.
"Not the best first impressions," Miles sighed, climbing back to the roof. While he had almost screwed up and possibly broken all the bones in his body, Miles felt a rush of adrenaline fuel him, his heart racing like crazy. "Is it bad that I'm loving this?"
Having the abilities of Spider-Man was every boy's dream, and now that he was living it, Miles was all for it.
"I should keep going," Miles said, standing up. He would need to get used to doing parkour if he planned on picking up Peter's mantle.
With a little jog that turned into a sprint, Miles jumped onto the next roof. This time he managed to reach, but his landing was anything but perfect.
"Definitely gonna need to work on that." Miles gritted as he dusted off the dirt from his suit.
...
MJ looked at herself in a mirror. She was wearing all black except for the hat on her head which was white.
At her side was Aunt May who was looking at the news.
Peter's face appeared on there with the headline, 'New York's Hero, Spider-Man found dead at 26'.
"Didn't take long for them to go to the news." Aunt May scoffed, shaking her head in disgust.
"Come on, Aunt May. You shouldn't pay attention to the news."
"You're right," Aunt May sighed, turning to look at MJ. "How are you feeling? I know how it feels to have to say a eulogy, and that was only for friends and family."
"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous, to say the least. Have you seen how many people are waiting outside?"
As soon as Spider-Man's identity was announced, every living being came to pay their respects to the late hero. While MJ would have loved for it to have just been a small thing between friends and family, she knew that it would be impossible. That was just how much of an impact Spider-Man had on the world.
As the two were getting ready to leave, their attention was brought to the television. The appearance of a black and red figure jumping through the rooftops of Brooklyn could be seen, being recorded by the people in the streets.
[Spider-Man is Back?] The headline read as the news reporter came on screen.
The two couldn't help but chuckle as they watched the news.
"I thought I told that young man to go home." Aunt May said, crossing her arms.
MJ hummed, resting her hands on her hips. "Well, he's already gotten Pete's stubbornness down."
The two let out a sigh as they remembered what they were about to do. However, the feeling of dread that MJ was feeling a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.
'Thank you, Miles.' She said to herself, turning to Aunt May.
"Ready?" Aunt May asked.
MJ nodded, "I am now."
...
After a bit of parkour, Miles landed back on the roof of his apartment building. On his back was a backpack with his clothes inside.
Checking his surroundings to make sure there was no one to see, Miles went to change into the clothes he wore before.
Slowly and carefully, Miles cracked open the window to his room where he made sure to hide his bag.
Unfortunately for him, much like his spider senses, Rio's mother's senses told her that he had arrived.
The door opened and Rio turned on the lights to his room. She looked at him with her arms crossed. "Where have you been?"
"I went out for a walk."
"A walk?"
"Yeah, I had to go out. I can't stay cooped up in here all day."
Rio sighed, sitting beside Miles on his bed. "Listen, mijo. I know you must be going through a lot. It's not easy seeing death, I know that from experience. But that doesn't give you the right to close yourself off, okay?"
"I know, Ma."
"Hm, if there's anything you want to talk about, don't be afraid to tell me, alright?" Rio said before pulling Miles into a hug.
Miles felt a bit guilty as he patted Rio's back. She believed him to be the son she had given birth to, but that wasn't the case. A part of him wanted to tell her, but Miles knew that would only make things worse. Perhaps sometime in the future, he would gather the courage to tell both Rio and Jefferson the truth.
"Right, well I suggest you go to sleep. Tomorrow you have to go to school."
"Ugh."
"Hey, none of that," Rio said sternly as she stood up. "Goodnight, dear."
"Goodnight, ma."
Miles sighed as he was left alone in his room. "Man, it doesn't feel right."
The best thing to do was for him to get some rest. He had the rest of tomorrow to worry about.
"Man, I feel like I'm forgetting something." Miles thought to himself, putting his hands behind his head.
He spent almost the rest of the night thinking about it until he finally remembered.
"The flash drive!" He gasped, remembering the most vital part of the movie.
Right before his death, Peter had given Miles the flash drive which held the necessary hack to disable Kingpin's Super Collider.
"Where did Miles leave it?" Miles asked himself as he searched his dirty clothes. After a few minutes, he managed to find the clothes he had on that night.
And inside the pockets of his hoodie, a small USB with a Spider-Man face dropped onto Miles' hand.
"Oh thank god." Miles let out a sigh of relief. "It would be a pain in the ass if I had lost it."
Miled remembered when the original had to head over to the Alchemax Facility with the other Peter to create the replacement USB after MIles broke it trying to learn how to be like Spider-Man.
"Now that I think about it, isn't tonight the night where the two meet?" From what Miles could recall, the original Miles went to the graveyard to see Peter's grave and that was where he met Peter Parker from another universe.
Looking at the backpack Miles had stashed away, he grabbed it and made his way out of his room through the emergency fire escape stairs until he reached the ceiling.
He didn't know why, but a part of him was telling him that he needed to see this Peter. Perhaps it was his hopeful optimism, but Miles believed that there was something that Peter could teach him
He just hoped he could get Peter to cooperate.