Chapter 132

[Third Person's PoV] 

Everyone soon stood on top of the tallest building in New York City. They all stood on the ledge, looking down towards everything below.

"This is it, guys. This is your leap of faith. An initiation to your new lives as heroes. There is no doubt there will be challenges ahead of us. There will be close calls where we put our lives at risk, but it's in those moments that we'll find our true strength. Remember, being a hero isn't just about having powers or abilities; it's about having the courage to stand up for what's right, even when it's difficult.

Look down. What you see is a city filled with people who need us, who count on us to be their shield and sword. They might never know our names, and some might even hate us, having nothing but detest in their hearts for us, but they'll feel our presence in every act of kindness, every injustice we fight, and every life we save.

Take this leap, not just as a test of your bravery, but as a commitment to your new path. Trust in yourselves, trust in each other. Together, we are unstoppable."

They all stared at Spider-Man, mouths agape. They saw his helmet gain a red coloring around the cheeks as they continued to stare at him.

"What the hell was that?" Spider-Kat was the first one to come out of their stupor.

Aria's voice came through their intercoms, "Daddy knew this would happen, so he stayed up past bedtime writing a speech for this moment."

They chuckled as Spider-Man coughed into his fist to save himself the humiliation. "So, is everyone ready?"

They all had confident smiles, their hair moving against the wind. Nightwing perched against the ledge with his arms resting on his knees, Spider-Kat had a hand on her hip, while Scarlet-Spider held a bit of her hair to the side, nodding their heads.

"Yes!" They all said at the same time.

"Good, then jump and prove it."

Nightwing was the first to jump. As he leapt, he spun around towards them, put his hands behind his head, and winked with a cocky smile as he began to fall.

"Wooooh!" Spider-Kat shouted as she jumped, tucked her knees in, and began to barrel roll.

Scarlet-Spider jumped and began doing backflips with a large smile on her face.

Spider-Man put his arms around Ghost-Spider and pulled her into a hug. Ghost-Spider had a hand on his chest as Spider-Man covered his mouth with a hand. "They grow up so fast, don't they?"

Ghost-Spider giggled before grabbing his hand. "Let's go and join our little children."

While holding hands, they jumped down and began to dive towards the others. They all shouted in cheers, feeling the wind brush against them as the ground grew closer and closer.

People below began screaming, recording, and pointing towards them. Just when they were about to hit the ground, they all spread their arms, and wings popped out from underneath them, causing them to swoop back up towards the sky.

"Hahaha!" They all laughed and cheered as they began to glide. As they started to lose momentum, their wings retracted back, and they webbed towards the nearest building.

Nightwing shot out a black web and swung towards the nearest rooftop. He landed in a roll and immediately transitioned into a sprint.

The others began to swing and maneuver from building to building.

Nightwing would jump and swing his arms forward before landing back into a roll and running again. His speed and reflexes kept up with all of them, using his webs only to make sharp turns.

The people watching them for the first time were shocked, unable to believe what they were seeing. If two spider people weren't enough, now there were three more.

"Alright, Aria, guide us," Spider-Man said.

"On it!" Aria responded, immediately showing them video footage of a truck moving erratically. "It appears that the driver is unconscious."

"I'm on it," Nightwing said as he went into a full sprint. He saw the truck, jumped from the rooftop, and landed on top of it.

He went near the window and knocked, seeing no response. Knowing something was wrong, he tried opening the door, but it was locked. Nightwing stuck his fingers towards the window and pulled it down. He reached over and opened the door. Once the door was open, Nightwing quickly took control of the truck and parked it to the side.

"Aria, what do you think is wrong?" Nightwing asked, feeling the man's pulse.

"He's going into cardiac arrest. I suggest using your Escrima sticks to restart his heart."

Nightwing grabbed his sticks, which had a green glow, and placed them near the man's heart. He pressed a button, sending a shock to the man's chest.

"Again," Aria said.

Nightwing did just that, which awoke the man's heart slightly.

"His pulse is back, but it's very faint and could stop again. I suggest heading to the ER."

Nightwing secured the man safely. "Alright, Aria, you know what to do," Nightwing said, and in an instant, the quickest path to the nearest hospital appeared in his vision.

Nightwing's figure turned into a blur as he began to run with the man in his arms. In less than five minutes, Nightwing arrived in front of a hospital. He slid to a stop, causing everyone around to just stare.

"This man is going into cardiac arrest. I've restarted his heart, but I don't know how long it will last," Nightwing quickly briefed them.

A male nurse acted quickly, "Here's an empty wheelchair. I'll wheel him inside."

Nightwing complied, and the male nurse looked towards him. "What do I call you?"

"Just call me Nightwing," he said before turning around. He took a running start, jumped towards the nearest lamppost, and began spinning around it, using the momentum to leap to the nearest building.

The male nurse stood in shock but quickly shook himself out of it and pushed the man inside.

"I'm all done on this end," Nightwing reported, tapping his side.

"Good work, Nightwing," Spider-Man replied.

Nightwing chuckled as he began running and jumping around.

"There is an illegal arms deal occurring in this part of town," Aria informed the others, showing them an image of a map.

"Let's go then," Spider-Kat said excitedly as they swung by. People were taking pictures of them, surprised to see so many Spider-People.

It took a few minutes to arrive, and Spider-Kat immediately swung through the front door, kicking the two men standing outside inside.

"Look what the cat dragged in~!" she shouted in a cheery tone.

Her action startled everyone inside, causing them to jump in fright. Almost immediately, they took out their guns, aimed at her, and began shooting.

Spider-Kat flexed her fingers, revealing her bone claws, now covered in a metallic sheen.

She then ran towards them, swinging her claws and cutting the bullets in half.

"Who the hell is this chick?" one of them shouted.

"Your bad luck incarnate," she teased, cutting their guns and knocking them unconscious.

She moved slyly between them, sliding under some, kicking others off their feet, and slamming their faces onto the ground, knocking them out.

"Should I even intervene?" Scarlet-Spider said as she watched the one-sided massacre.

They then heard a whoosh and the sound of something sliding. They turned around to find Nightwing striding towards them.

When he looked inside, he saw Spider-Kat knocking everyone unconscious with her skills. Not a minute later, she stood among the unconscious bodies.

"Now that's what I call a warm-up," she said, flipping her hair back.

"How about leaving some for the rest of us?" Scarlet-Spider said with a raised brow.

"Sorry, Scarlet, you're going to have to be quicker if you want to catch your prey," Spider-Kat teased.

She retracted her claws. "I got to say, Spider-Man, you've outdone yourself. The metal wraps and unwraps around my claws almost perfectly."

One of the men behind Spider-Kat, pretending to be unconscious, slowly aimed his gun at her.

"L–"

He didn't get the words out before Spider-Kat flicked her wrist back, web-shooting the man to the ground, immobilizing him.

"Don't worry, I never let down my vigilance. I can't tell you how many times I've suffered because of it," Spider-Kat said, rubbing the back of her head due to phantom pain.

"So shall we go?"

Spider-Man shook his head. "No, we need to safely secure them for the cops."

"Oh right… I forgot about that. Normally, the simulation would have ended by now."

They went around and safely wrapped everyone in webs, and Ghost-Spider sent a message to her dad.

"A gang war between two opposing gangs is currently in play. There are civilians in the crossfire," Aria informed them.

"I call dibs," Scarlet-Spider said as they all jumped away and headed in the direction Aria provided.

As they made their way towards the two gangs, they broke off a bit to help people in need—getting a cat out of a tree, saving someone from getting run over, helping a crying child who had separated from his mother.

They soon regrouped and appeared in the middle of the shootout. "I'll take them down. You guys focus on making sure everyone is out of their range," Scarlet-Spider said as she jumped into the crossfire.

She quickly webbed all their guns and, in one quick pull, disarmed them all at once. "Don't you know you're putting other people at risk?" she reprimanded them.

Seeing their weapons snatched away, they took out their backup weapons and began shooting at her in fright.

Scarlet-Spider sighed and dodged all their bullets, swinging around towards both sides of the warfare, taking them out.

Meanwhile, the others were escorting the civilians away.

"Y-Y-You're Nightwing!?" a 13-year-old boy, being escorted with a group, suddenly asked.

"Yeah, he's a big inspiration to me, so I took up the mantle. What do you think? Do I at least look the part?" he asked, trying to take their minds off the chaos behind them.

The boy nodded rapidly in awe.

From Nightwing's peripheral vision, he saw a frightened gang member aiming his gun at him.

Nightwing grabbed one of his Escrima sticks and flung it, bonking the man on the head and knocking him unconscious. The stick spun back towards him, and he caught it without looking, placing it back on his back.

"So cool," the boy muttered, practically seeing stars in his eyes.

The others with him looked at Nightwing in admiration. He finally took them to the police, who had just arrived.

Scarlet-Spider kneed one gang member in the face before using him as a springboard to jump to the next.

She appeared upside down next to two others, bonking their heads together before landing safely on the ground.

She ran into a crowd of gang members, karate-chopping their necks and maneuvering like she was dancing, hitting their nerves at the back of their necks.

To everyone else, Scarlet-Spider appeared like an executioner as she went for their necks.

As they all dropped to the floor, her right leg slid to the side as she settled into the typical Spider-Man pose.

"If I were you, I'd give myself in. I'm a rather impatient woman, so make your decisions quickly. Throw your weapons down, and no one else has to get hurt."

They quickly dropped their weapons, realizing she wasn't alone. Others were watching them.

Nightwing swung his feet, sitting on a ledge and rocking side to side as he held onto the edge.

On the opposite side, Spider-Kat was perched, both hands holding onto the ledge.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man leaned against a wall below Nightwing's building, arms crossed, with one leg against the wall.

Ghost-Spider mirrored his stance on the opposite side.

The gang members dropped to their knees and put their hands behind their heads, showing their surrender.

"Good boys~" she said sensually as she stood back up.

Armored police cars arrived, officers exiting with raid shields and guns aimed forward.

"Stay where you are and do not move!"

Scarlet-Spider waved toward them. "There's no need for that, they're already down."

"WE SAID FREEZE!"

Scarlet-Spider pointed to herself. "You talking to me?"

"You are under arrest for the act of vigilantism, assault, and many other crimes!" they declared, reading them their Miranda rights while pointing their weapons at the others as well.

"MANY OTHER CRIMES!? IT'S MY FIRST DAY ON THE JOB!"

Spider-Man then sent them a message using a neural link between them all.

'Let's skedaddle. They won't listen to reason; they're under orders.'

They all nodded before Scarlet-Spider wiggled her fingers toward the officers. "Toodle-oo," she said, swinging away.

The officers opened fire, but the group was too quick and experienced, dodging and moving away.

'Aria, check who gave the order,' Spider-Man commanded.

A second later, Aria replied, "It's Military General Thunderbolt Ross. He wants to capture you and make more of you to use as soldiers."

"Typical," Spider-Man rolled his eyes.

"Do you guys have to go through this often?" Scarlet-Spider asked with a frown, upset that her debut was ruined.

"More times than we like. That's why Ghost and I always worry about our DNA being scattered around," Spider-Man explained.

"Does that mean we will be enemies of the military?" Nightwing asked.

"Yes and no. As far as I'm aware, it's only Thunderbolt Ross who wants this. Others likely think it's unethical," Spider-Man said as they swung and ran across buildings, the sound of sirens growing distant.

"Father's hypothesis is correct. Thunderbolt Ross is in constant argument with his superiors about this. They say he will give the military a bad name and cause them to lose the support of the populace. He wants a chance to prove his ideas are right. Based on everything I've just uncovered," Aria explained.

"So right now, we don't have much to worry about. Let's focus on what's ahead of us: keeping our little city safe," Peter said, changing the subject to prevent paranoia about becoming military enemies.

"Yes, sir," they all said teasingly.

They continued helping everyone they could, with many shocked to see Nightwing. Some were weirded out, some scoffed, some thought it was cool. They patrolled the city until late into the night when the most dangerous people roam.

But there was a shared feeling among everyone—good, bad, civilians, and villains alike—fear.

More vigilantes appearing could only mean one thing: they were all in danger. But in danger of what, they didn't know. And not knowing, honestly, frightened them more.