Chapter 5: Earning Your Wings
Out of a small deli, two masked robbers burst out with a bag in one hand and a gun in the other.
"Let's go!" One of them yelled as he got into their getaway car. His partner in crime dove into the car through the open window.
"Phew, that joint had some dough on them." The masked man chuckled, looking inside his bag to see the cash and jewelry he had stolen.
"I told you, right now is the perfect time to start robbing. With Spider-Man biting the bullet there's no one to stop us."
"What about the rumors?"
"What rumors?"
"That there's a new Spider-Man in town. I've been seeing it all over the news."
"Please, they're just saying that to stop those who are gullible enough to believe it."
"Heh, I guess you're right. By now Spider-Man would have stopped us."
"You see?!"
The two celebrated their score, none the wiser of the two figures swinging behind them.
...
"So, how are we doing this?" Miles asked, following behind Peter.
"Land on the roof of the car and we'll take it from there," Peter explained.
The two landed on top of the moving car, Peter a lot more gracefully than Miles.
Peter turned to Miles, "Alright, there's two of them. You'll get the one in the passenger seat, got it?"
"Uh, y-yes sir!" Miles saluted before he stuck to the side of the car. With his elbow, he shattered the car's window pulled the man out, and leaped away from the car.
As Miles landed on the street, he threw the robber toward the wall where he shot a few webs at him, sticking him to the wall. "Don't move from there, okay?"
"Screw you, Spider-Man!"
"That's not very nice!" Miles remarked before swinging back toward Peter. "Alright, that wasn't so bad." As he said that, Miles intercepted a pigeon who was flying in his direction and crashed onto the street.
"Ugh...is this the Spider-Man luck?" Miles groaned as he got back up. He shot his web, swinging onward, trying to catch up to the car Peter was still fighting on.
...
"Alrighty, joy ride over, buddy." Peter groaned as he pulled the door off the car's hinges. He then grabbed the robber and webbed him to a nearby street light.
With no one driving the car, it began to head toward a populated street.
Peter groaned, shaking his head. "Why's it never easy?"
He quickly webbed the back of the car to the ground to slow it down. Once its speed began to decrease, Peter jumped over until he landed in front of it. He grabbed the car's hood with his hands and held it down. Peter slid back a bit but remained in his spot until the car fully stopped. Making sure everyone was safe, Peter waved at the citizens.
"Don't worry people, just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man business."
Miles landed on top of the car, looking over at Peter. "That was a crazy move, man."
"Yeah, well if you keep your eyes peeled, you might learn something. Come on, the night's still young." Peter said, swinging away.
"Not even time for a break?" Miles sighed as he swung after Peter.
...
"You gotta learn how to reel in your strength," Peter explained as he ducked under a baseball bat swung from a mobster.
"Kinda hard when you're getting attacked!" Miles exclaimed as he leaped backward, narrowly missing a pipe to the back before he kicked the mobster behind him.
Unlike the last guy who got hit into a crater in the wall and possibly broke many of his bones, this one was pushed back to the wall where he only hit the wall hard enough to knock the wind off him.
"See? You're already doing fine!" Peter said, webbing one of the mobsters to his friend before he slammed the two to the ground, knocking the two of them out.
'Man, he makes it look easy.' Miles thought, looking as Peter effortlessly dealt with the mobsters.
He stopped when his spider senses warned him of another attack. Miles rolled out of the way just in time to see a bullet fly past him.
That brought Miles back to his senses and he webbed the mobster's gun out of his hand before delivering a haymaker which knocked him out.
After a few minutes, Miles and Peter sighed as they finished webbing up all the mobsters for the police.
"How are you feeling?" Peter asked, looking over at Miles.
"Exhausted," Miles said truthfully. He knew that Spider-Man had it tough, but one thing was seeing it and the other was living through it.
"At least you're honest." Peter chuckled, seeing as the sun was starting to rise. "Well, how about we call it for today? I'm sure Miles has some things he has to take care of."
"I guess you're right." Miles nodded as he stretched his tired body. "You gonna be cool? You are in another universe which probably means that you don't have a place to stay. I would let you stay at my place but then I'd have to explain to my parents why I brought a stranger home."
Peter sighed, rubbing his head. "Yeah, I doubt they'd be too happy about that. I'll probably find somewhere to sleep for today."
"You could always go see Aunt May. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to give you a place to sleep."
"I'll think about it," Peter replied, not wanting to talk about Aunt May.
"We're going to have to go see her eventually. Peter's hideout is right under her house." Miles said, trying his best to encourage Peter. But it seemed that it wasn't going to be that easy. "Well, I'll see you after I'm done with school. Make sure to get some rest!"
"Hm, take care." Peter watched as Miles swung away. While it was a bit messy, it did seem that he was getting the hang of it. "That kid's a quick learner." Peter smiled before he swung away.
...
Miles quietly returned to his room where he removed his suit and placed it back into his bag. If he was lucky, he could probably get a bit of sleep in.
But luck was something that Spider-Man rarely had.
"Miles, levantate!" Rio's voice rang in his ears just as he was about to close his eyes.
"Uh, let me sleep at least a minute."
"Sorry, mijo but your dad has to drive you back to school, and now's the only time he can," Rio said as she entered his room. "If you want to sleep some more, you can take a nap in your dorm room."
'Damn...I don't even know where my dorm room is.' While MIles had received the original's body, he hadn't received his memories. This was one of the reasons he dreaded going to school.
For one, he wasn't as smart as the original Miles. Sure, he had his brain, but not the way the original Miles thought. While he would still be able to learn everything that Miles did, it would probably take him a bit longer to learn it.
'Fine, it's better to deal with it now.' Miles sighed, standing up. Miles couldn't tell why, but he felt that today was going to be a long day.