Jessica

Radioactive Spider Blood Part Four

"I asked you a question. Who are you?"

He was still stunned by the fall, not to mention surprised by her appearance, preventing him from answering the question immediately. Nevertheless, as she started speaking again, he interrupted her and meekly answered: "I'm Spider-Man. Who are you supposed to be?"

"I already told you and I don't like repeating myself." Jessica said, notably frustrated. "I don't mean what you're trying to be, I mean who you really are."

"Hey! Look Spider Lady, last time I checked, superheroes have a right to a secret identity."

"Not if you steal it from someone else."

With a swift movement, before he could react, she took his mask off while holding him back with her other arm, revealing that he was even younger than she thought.

"I thought you were some scrawny fifteen year old, like Peter. How old are you?"

"Uh... twentysix!" he answered while covering his face with his hands.

She froze for a second and started chuckling. The young dark skinned boy was confused and a little embarrassed, he didn't know that what he said had reawakened an old memory of hers.

The boy seemed a little angry while moving his hands away from his face and reaching for his mask: "Don't make fun of me!" He said. "Give it back!"

"Give what back? This cheap mask bought from a shop? This is all really offensive, you know."

Skinny arms tried to get through an assertive defense, with no avail. His hands kept reaching for what was his property but she couldn't care less and inquired: "How did you get your powers?"

"I... uh... you know what? I don't have to tell you anything. You will—"

He was about to fight her, not caring about how one sided it would have been until he noticed that he couldn't move.
He looked down and noticed that somehow, without being noticed, she had completely trapped him from the neck down inside a web cocoon.

"How did you...?"

"I'm not telling you my secrets if you don't tell me yours. It's only fair."

"Who gave you the right to do all this?" he said as he was hopping around, ignoring the young woman trying to make him notice how silly he looked. He added "I'm going to the—"

He carelessly tripped and Jessica's heart started racing. She couldn't even think of what could have happened if he fell on his head. What if he hit his head the wrong way and seriously hurt himself, or worse?

She cursed while sprinting towards the helpless skinny kid, who was still falling like a sack of potatoes.
She reached for his back and...

He stopped inches away from the ground. Jessica was standing on only her right foot, the other one was up in the air. She was holding the same spider string straitjacket she had trapped him in earlier and once she opened her eyes and noticed that everything was alright, she gently let him go.

He was too shocked to speak, having just now realized how close he was to hitting the ground. She on the other hand spoke perhaps a bit too much and not in a nice way, either. She wasn't shouting at him, she was instead sheepishly cursing to herself.

"Are you alright?" she asked him after finishing the self deprecation.

He was still staring blankly in front of him when he answered: "Uh... uh-uh."

"Ok... ok. Maybe I've been a little too harsh."

"Uh-uh."

"Still..." she breathed deeply, "I want you to stop."