Tarantula (Spider-Man)

Stan By Me

   The sun sets over the Oscorp building as Spider-Man and Tarantula catch their breaths on a nearby building.

“Whoo! What a day. You were fantastic out there, you know that?” he asks, spinning around excitedly.

“Yeah, that was amazing.” Tarantula replies, sitting down on the edge of the building.

Looking over as the bright orange light illuminates the glass in the tall buildings, she takes in the splendid view.

“Pretty sweet, isn’t it?” he asks, sitting down to join her.

She nods, “I’ve never seen the city this high up before.”

She suddenly sees a web sling in front of her face, going for her mask, “Nuh uh, you don’t!” she arches her back to dodge, and his web shoots out at nothing but air.

“Hey, you can’t blame me for being curious.” he defends, yanking his wrist to detach the string.

“Well, who are you behind that mask?” she asks, as a breeze picks up and whips her hair in front of her face.

“Tall, dark and handsome.” he replies snarkily.

Behind her mask, Tarantula rolls her eyes, “Right.”

“What about you?” he follows up, lying on his stomach and crossing his legs femininely.

She takes a moment to think about her response, “...I’m a stripper.”

He cackles in laughter, almost rolling off the building, “Ha ha! Yeah right, and I’m the queen of England.”

Tarantula clutches her stomach as a grumbling sound comes from it, she hasn’t anything to eat since this morning. She looks over at Spider-Man, who’s contented himself with looking over the skyline.

“...it’s getting late. I’ll just let myself out.” she excuses herself, getting up.

He looks up, “Already? But, all the big crimes don’t happen until nighttime. You’re not gonna let me beat you to the catch, are you?”

She stops in her tracks, pressing his lips together in indecision, “...maybe I’ll see you around later tonight Spidey.” she turns back, and smiles,  “I might just beat you to it.”

He snaps his fingers and points them at her, “Challenge accepted.”

She looks down at the street below, tips herself forward, and swan dives down, spreading her arms to reveal her webbed wings. With her wings, she glides through the city street, using her wings to pick up momentum every now-and-then. She returns to the building where she’d hidden her case. Quickly changing out of her outfit and back into her normal clothes, she makes her way back down to the ground below. Dropping down in an alley, Valerie walks out into the busy New York sidewalks, joining the many others, completely anonymous.

 

   Someone had left a voicemail on Valerie’s cell phone. She lies down on her couch as she lets it play,

“Hey Valerie, Hayden here. Forgot to tell you this, but you’re still scheduled to make a TV appearance on the Betty Brant show Tuesday night. It’s this local talk show on some local channel, nothing too big so don’t sweat it. I’ll be there to wish you luck. This is your big break Valerie, you’ll be great!”

The tone beeps and she turns off her phone as she continues to stare up at the ceiling. Hearing her stomach growl again, she reluctantly gets up and remembers that she hasn’t bought any groceries for her apartment. She opens her small fridge to see that the guys only put in a case of sparkling soda. Taking one, Valerie gets her coat and heads out the door, checking Google Maps on her phone for a nearby supermarket to quickly pick up some easy meals. She looks down the flight of stairs, tempted to swing down. She lifts her arms and notices that her webbed wings no longer show up. Probably best not to bring attention to herself anyway.

She reaches the lobby floor, having found a nearby twenty-four hour market, a place called Fine Fare Supermarket. Guess Lucky’s or Safeway aren’t as big in New York as they are in San Francisco. Just as she reaches the front door, she runs into the old man with dark glasses and mustache,

“Oh hey, you’re the kid that moved into the vacant apartment several floors up, aren’t you?” he asks.

Surprised he’d even be aware of that in such a large building, she scratches the back of her neck nervously, “Uh...yeah, that’s me.”

“Well, it’s good to see young people striking it out on their own.” he comments cheerfully, “Say, did you get a glimpse of Tarantula during that robbery?”

“No, no sir, like you said, I’m several floors up. I barely know what happened.”

“I was just asking because there’s been a couple reporters going door-to-door asking if anyone got any pictures. I personally don’t have any, I mean, who takes pictures during a robbery?” he leans in a little closer, being discreet, “Personally, I think Tarantula should team up with Spider-Man, and in more ways than one.”

Valerie chuckles, “Maybe, maybe.”

“Say, what’s your name kid?” he asks.

“Valerie, and you sir?”

“Stan.”

Valerie waves goodbye to Stan as she heads out the door. What a funny man.

 

   She returns to her apartment with two bags of mostly non-disposable food just as the sky’s completely become devoid of sunlight. She looks out her window at the majestic lights of New York City. In theory, this shouldn’t surprise her, she’s lived in a city her whole life, but there’s something unique about New York’s skyline. Almost majestic.

She turns on her television as she starts preparing a can of beans and vegetables. She flips through the unfamiliar order of channels until she finds the channel called DBC (Daily Bugle Communications), where Hayden is currently on the Betty Brant show,

“So, Mr. Gull, what is it like going from an independent company to being part of a multi-billion dollar corporation?” she asks, displaying a more down to Earth personality for a show host.

He laughs charismatically, “Well, it’s been quite a shift for me and my team. While we’re now part of  Oscorp, we’re still a separate brand and our entire original team is still together. Oscorp has been very hospitable, and they’re working closely with us to further our product.”

She listens to the TV interview as she mixes around the beans in the pot as she brings out a bowl and some oyster crackers. She watches as he eloquently speaks about the company, complimenting Oscorp whenever he can. For the most part, it’s something she’s seen him do many times before, although she’d never imagine she’d be the one to be on television getting an interview. That’s always been Hayden’s thing, after all, he’s much better at it.

She’s just finished preparing her dinner, plopping herself onto the couch when the screen suddenly changes to the emergency broadcast system. The announcer warns of a disturbance on the Williamsburg Bridge, and encouraged all citizens to stay in their homes and to avoid the bridge at all cost. So this is what Spider-Man meant when he said that all the big crimes don’t start until nighttime. Valerie wolfs down the rest of her meal, turns off the TV and gets out her case. Upon opening it, she finds her costume still intact. While putting it on, she looks up directions to the Williamsburg Bridge, quickly trying to memorize the quickest way there. She turns off all the lights in her apartment, opens the window...and jumps.