Shadow-Spide Stories

After THE Summer

"Yo Evelyn! Wait up!" Henry Howell, one of Evelyn's best friends, called out to her. It's been a month since Evelyn got back from New York, a month since the longest summer of her life. She was disappointed with how things played out with the Avengers' kids. After all, what can an 11 year old do? Whine and hope they stay together? No.

"Sorry Henry, I just got a lot of homework to do." Evelyn turned around and answered Henry. He was wearing his usual black hoodie with his red sneakers. His hair in a small afro style and his brown eyes complimented his dark skin.

"What!? You literally yelled out in lunch, 'Done with homework!'" Livvie complained. Her blonde curls bounced as she walked and her flannel jacket trailed behind her. Livvie's red converse made her blue eyes stand out.

Evelyn chuckled, waving her brown hair with purple highlights. "Yeah, well, I have a class after lunch and that's where I got my homework." She flustered.

Felicity spoke up. "Really? And what is your last class?" She was wearing her hockey team's jacket and had her black curly hair in a bun. Her hazel eyes pierced Evelyn's brown ones.

"Uhm- health! Ya know.. All that jazz... heh." Evelyn looked into each of her friend's eyes. "Anyway, gotta go!" She ran off, almost tripping on her shoelaces.

"Everytime she does this, she gets weirder and weirder..." Peni pointed out. Peni's hair was chopped short in a bob. Her pale skin contrasting her black hair. Mia nodded, her straight brown hair barely moved.

"She's definitely hiding something." Mia said. "Come on, let's go see what it is!" Mia started to walk in Evelyn's direction.

"Alrighty then," Livvie looked at her other friends' unsure looks, "come on. She's been acting weird ever since this summer."

"Yeah, well, she always acts weird." Peni replied.

"Except she's being weirder than usual- she literally ditched Mia's game and then all of a sudden Shadow-Spide pops out. You can't think that's a coincidence." Felicity explained.

"It does seem a little suspicious... I can recall several times in the past where Shadow-Spide saves the day when we're there. All of us were there, except Ev." Henry agreed.

"Waitaminute... you're saying that Evelyn - the sweet little Ev who has never hurt a fly in her life - takes down baddies like the Prowler. Yeah right.." Peni said.

Livvie spoke up. "It never hurts to ask." The five friends nodded in agreement and headed to Evelyn's apartment.

Evelyn ran up the steps to her apartment. Go go go! She burst through her apartment door. "Hi Mom, bye Mom!" She ran up the steps.

"Wait a minute Shadow! Where are you going?" Gwen looked up from her paperwork.

"Out!" Evelyn yelled down the stairs. I can't wait to go swinging! Maybe one of the Next Gens will come and see Detroit.

"Did you finish all your homework?" Gwen called up to her.

Evelyn threw on her suit. "Yes, I did!" She ran down the steps to the balcony.

Gwen shook her head. "Alrighty then my little spider, be safe."

"I will!" Evelyn said as she turned invisible and hopped off the balcony. Once she made sure she was a safe distance away from her apartment, she turned visible again. Webs thwiped out to catch hold of buildings as she swung. She laughed and whooped as she was swinging through the buildings. The cold air whipped around her. Evelyn was as happy as can be.

"Knock on the door!"

"No you!"

"Fine I'll do it."

"Yes, Mia to the rescue!"

"Shut up Henry." Mia knocked on the Morales' door. Footsteps were heard from inside. The door opened.

"Oh, hi Mia. Are you looking for Evelyn?" Gwen asked the group of friends.

"Uh yeah, is she here?" Mia asked.

Gwen looked back inside. "She- uhm- oh right... she went to the store to grab some things for dinner tonight. I'm actually heading out right now, I got a call from the police station. She should be home soon, you can stay inside and hang out." Gwen paused then grinned. "You better not trash the place."

"Oh we don't want to bother you Mrs. Morales." Mia said.

"It's no problem! Evelyn is going to be home soon so you can wait for her here. Come on in!" Gwen ushered Evelyn's friends in their apartment. "Make yourselves at home." Gwen left the group standing in the middle of their apartment.

Outside of the apartment Gwen called Evelyn on her phone. "Evelyn, your friends are over. I let them inside but I have to go to the department now, can you please come home?"

"Yeah Mom, I'm coming right now."

Inside the apartment, the group decides to wait in Evelyn's room. They each took seats either on her bed or on several different types of furniture due to their liking. Felicity and Henry had an arm wrestle, Mia and Peni had a heated discussion about the Detroit Pistons, and Livvie drew in her sketchbook. All of a sudden, the window opened. The group was puzzled by this because of the fact it was closed earlier. They stayed quiet, confused at what happened. Then appeared Shadow-Spide in her full hero garb on the ceiling. The group watched as the hero slowly took her mask off upside down.

"EVELYN!?" They all shouted in unison. Their cry scared Evelyn so much that she fell off the ceiling.

"GUYS!? Why are you in my room!?" Evelyn cried out after hitting the floor.

"You-you're Shadow-Spide! You were on the news! Last year you stopped a bomb from detonating!" Henry fumbled with his words. Everyone else stared at Evelyn in shock.

Evelyn looked up at her friends and tried to explain. "Yes, I'm Shadow-Spide, all right?" She paused and saw her friends' disappointed faces. "I didn't tell you this because if I told you, then you would be in danger. People would come after you. They've already come after my Mom and Dad but they can protect themselves." Evelyn stood up, waiting for a response from her friends in the silence.

"Waitaminute, how did you get your powers? Did you get bitten by a radioactive spider like Peter Parker in the comics?" Peni asked, bewilderment on her face.

"Uhm- yeah... but no... it's more complicated than that..." Evelyn gave a small nervous chuckle.

Felicity's eyes grew wide. "DID YOUR MOM YOU-KNOW-WHAT WITH PETER PARKER!?"

"WHAT!? EW! GROSS! NO! Peter has- I'm gonna stop talking now." Evelyn said.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, you know SPIDER-MAN?" Henry asked excitedly.

"I just wanna say, I was the first to be suspicious that you were hiding something Evelyn." Livvie said.

"First of all, no I don't know Spider-Man. Second of all, I'm honestly not surprised. I haven't been very good at keeping secrets ever since- ever since I went away for the summer." Evelyn explained.

"What happened this summer?" Mia asked.

Evelyn promptly replied, "A lot, but it doesn't matter now." Evelyn started to laugh. "I can't believe you found out this way. I was expecting it to be much more dramatic, but I guess this is a good thing."

Peni poked Evelyn on the shoulder. "Can I try on the suit?"

Evelyn giggled. "Of course you can! You all can try it on, except for maybe Henry." The girls snickered at Evelyn's comment.