The Spider's Shadow

-5-

Petra's POV

I took a deep breath as I smiled at Loki, the god I'd come to see as an older brother with all the time we had spent together.

"What's wrong, little angel?" he asked me, having started calling me 'little angel' years ago, when I'd started feeling insufficient due to constant comparisons to my stellar brother. He'd almost gone full take-over-the-world at Aunt May and Uncle Ben because he thought it was their fault I felt like I wasn't good enough.

'YOU KEEP THIS FAMILY TOGETHER! YOU'RE THE ONLY THING KEEPING ME FROM TRYING TO CONQUER THE GALAXY! AND THEY THINK YOUR INSIGNIFICANT TWIN IS BETTER BECAUSE WHAT, HE LIKES PEOPLE MORE? I'LL KILL THEM ALL!' he'd yelled, cursing the teachers who compared me to my bright, bubbly, genius twin to heaven and hell. I'd laughed, given him the 'we - don't - kill - or - try - to - take - over - planets - and - yes - that - counts - stabbing - people' lecture again, and hugged him. The next day, he'd given me a single earring that looked like an emerald snake with an amethyst eye, one that cupped up around my ear so the mouth ended halfway up the outside of my ear with a bend in the snake in the middle where the stud was, and the tail hung down as a dangle. I put it on my ear, the right one, and then Loki turned into a matching earring. I put that one in too, and for the next week or so he whispered encouragements and snarky comments into my ear as the teachers and bullies beat my spirit(and body, in the bullies' case) down into the dirt. He'd still turn into that earring whenever I felt down. I'd first met him after my parents' death. He comforted me.

"Oh, y'know. Nothing much. My uncle died, I was bit by a radioactive spider, I have superpowers now, my brother's a superhero, I got replaced as his guy-in-the-chair, and I finally learned conversational Russian and Italian." Loki's face as I said that was priceless, his jaw dropping and eyes widening to the point I thought they'd pop out. "Something wrong Lokes?" I asked jokingly, reverting to my childhood nickname for him as he pulled himself together.

"Well, I suppose I have to start calling you spider angel now!" he replied, matching my joking tone. "But seriously, do you want me to stay with you for another few weeks? I feel like you're going to need me." I smiled at him, wiping the tears away from my eyes.

"That sounds like exactly what I need, Lokes. Only if you're willing, of course," I said as I grabbed the earring from my closet and fastened it on my ear. Lokes turned himself into the other earring, and I used my new superspeed and reflexes to grab him before he hit the floor. I put the Lokearing into my ear, fastening the back and allowing Loki to lightly fasten his body around the rim of my ear. I smiled as the comforting sound of Loki's voice drifted into my hearing, then frowned as I heard Peter's distant scream. I slipped on my hoodie and yoga pants as Lokes squeezed his amethyst eye shut and complained about me changing, as he did every time I change and he's in my earring. I finished my outfit with a pair of black stilettos and a simple black mask with the purple hourglass motif. I smile at my reflection in the mirror after finishing the look with black lipstick, then swing out the window, performing complicated and beautiful twists, leaps, rolls, flips, and other acrobatic stunts as I swing towards my brother's scream. I drop down gracefully, taking out three of the men who have Peter cornered before they even know I'm there. I continue gracefully fighting off the men, leaving them unconscious or webbed up before crossing to my brother and spotting the stab wound on his side. I pull a needle and dental floss out of my outfit, removing my twin's hand from his side as I hum Tili Tili Bom, a creepy Russian lullaby. I gently stitch up Pete's wound, apply webbing to his side, sew up the suit, and back away. I continue humming the song as I give him a hand up, then turn and web away. The last thing Peter hears of me is a faint ''Тили тили бом~' as I pretend to go far away but instead land silently on the rooftop above him.

"What? Who was that? Why did they help you? Why did their powers look like yours? What were they singing? How did they take out all twenty men? How did they know how to stitch up stab wounds?" Ned's voice comes through the comms as he freaks out about me.

Peter responds perfectly, as usual. "I don't know, let's call them the shadow spider. No clue, but I'm glad they did. Maybe they were bitten by a different radioactive spider? That's what the purple black widow motif suggests to me. They were singing Tili Tili Bom, a Russian lullaby with an insanely creepy translation. They're obviously an insanely good fighter, especially since they were in heels. Maybe they've been stabbed before?"

Hmm...

Shadow Spider.

I like that.

That's my name...my super hero name. I smile, before webbing away properly. When I reached home, I changed quickly hiding my suit under a floorboard carefully, making sure you couldn't even tell it was there or that the floorboard had ever been moved with magic. I sighed happily, collapsing into bed and falling asleep almost immediately with a soft smile still on my face.