Spider-Man: Black and Blue (AU) Chapter 9: Testing (2)

[Third Person's PoV] 


After school, Damon and Richard stood behind a wide alleyway nestled between two old brick buildings. The space was broad enough for people to park their cars.


“Do I really have to do this?” Damon asked, his face locked in a flat, unimpressed expression.


“Please, bro! I’m begging you!” Richard pleaded, his hands pressed together in a dramatic show of desperation. “I would want nothing more in this entire world!”


Damon let out a small laugh through his nose, clearly trying to hold back a smile. “Fine… get on.”


“YES!” Richard shouted, pumping a fist in the air before jumping up and clinging onto Damon’s back like an excited koala. “Alright, I’m ready!”


“Weirdo,” Damon muttered with a laugh as he approached the side of the building. He placed one hand against the wall, then another slightly higher. With a practiced motion, he lifted his feet and planted them against the bricks. In seconds, all four limbs were secured—none touching the ground—his body suspended entirely against the wall.


He began climbing steadily, one grip at a time. Richard, still clinging to his back, was cackling with glee.


“Nice going, Wall-Clawer!” he cheered, his voice echoing through the alley.


“Damn… this is actually crazy,” Damon admitted with a grin, infected by Richard’s joy and energy. “Haha!”


They continued to ascend, the height increasing with each step. When they reached the rooftop’s edge, Damon reached up, grabbed the ledge, and—with a small jump—hauled them both up effortlessly.


Once they were safely on the roof, Richard jumped off Damon’s back with a loud whoop and raised both fists to the sky. “That was awesome!!”


“Chill out, you adrenaline junkie,” Damon said, brushing off his hands as he chuckled.


“Alright, time to jot this down,” Richard announced, plopping down cross-legged and pulling his backpack around. He unzipped it and retrieved a worn notebook covered in scribbles, sticky notes, and doodles.


“Adhesive climbing capability…” he muttered to himself while writing it down.


“Add increased cognitive abilities too,” Damon offered, stretching his arms.


“Seriously?” Richard looked up, clearly intrigued.


“Yup,” Damon nodded confidently. “I’ve been picking up stuff faster—learning quicker, understanding complex stuff I’d normally struggle with. My brain’s definitely working overtime.”


“Damn… what kind of radioactive chemical cocktail was in that spider?” Richard mumbled as he scribbled more notes.


“Oh—speaking of which—you might wanna jot these down too,” Damon said suddenly. He opened his mouth and pulled his lips back, revealing four elongated, razor-sharp fangs, two on each row. 


Richard froze, eyes wide, mouth slowly falling open. “I forgot about those… Damn. Are they venomous?”


“Absolutely no clue,” Damon replied with a shrug, seemingly unbothered.


Richard snorted and wrote it down. “Fangs... possibly venomous. Got it.”


As he finished writing, Damon raised an eyebrow. “Why exactly are you keeping detailed notes of my abilities again?”


“I wanna track how they evolve. Maybe if you train them, they’ll get stronger or more refined,” Richard said, standing up and brushing dust from his jeans. “Plus, it helps to keep everything organized. You’ve got a lot going on.”


“That’s fair,” Damon said with a nonchalant shrug.


“Now, onto the reason we came up here in the first place,” Richard said, eyes gleaming with excitement. “Can you, like… shoot webs? From your butt?”


Damon gave him a flat stare. “Don’t phrase it like that…”


“I’m just saying!” Richard grinned.


“I think that’s what these two holes are for,” Damon said, holding out his wrists and showing him the small, almost invisible openings near the base of his palms.


Richard grabbed Damon’s arm and examined it closely. “Wait, they come out of your wrist? Not your butt? Man… what a missed opportunity.”


“You’re lucky I can’t fully control my strength yet, or I would’ve smacked you for that comment,” Damon muttered.


“Whatever, man. Just shoot your webs already. I wanna see if it looks cool or just gross,” Richard said, bouncing with anticipation.


“I don’t know how to shoot them,” Damon admitted, looking at his wrists in frustration. “I haven’t exactly figured it out yet.”


“Try extending your hand and giving a command. Like, just will it to happen,” Richard suggested. 


Damon stepped up to the rooftop edge, facing the building across the alleyway. He extended his hand forward like a superhero and called out, “Out, web!”


Nothing happened.


“…Come on, bro, be serious,” Richard said with a disappointed sigh.


“I was being serious…” Damon mumbled, cheeks slightly red.


Clearing his throat, he tried again. “Come out, web!”


Nothing.


“Abrakadabra!”


Nope.


“Alakazam!” he yelled, flicking his wrist dramatically.


Still nothing.


Richard rubbed his forehead. “We’re going to be here a while…”


And they were. Damon tried command after command—some serious, some ridiculous—until finally, out of sheer exhaustion, he formed a devil horn sign with his hand and half-heartedly muttered, “Rock and roll…”


Thwip!


A long, thick strand of webbing burst from his wrist and zipped across the alleyway, latching onto the ledge of the opposite building with a loud splack. Both boys froze in stunned silence, staring at the connected thread.


Richard jolted upright. Their heads slowly turned to look at each other, jaws slack, eyes wide.


“…Awesome,” they both whispered in unison.


Seeing the thick strand of web still attached to Damon’s wrist and the other end secured to the building across the alley, an idea sparked in Richard’s mind like a firework.


“Dude… you know what would be absolutely crazy?” Richard asked, a mischievous smirk growing wider by the second. “If you could swing across to the other side.”


Damon raised a brow, glancing at the webline with skepticism. “Could this even hold my body weight?” he asked, tugging on it experimentally.


The web didn’t budge.


Curiosity piqued, Damon decided to test it before attempting anything borderline suicidal. He laid the web across the gap between the two rooftops. Taking a steadying breath, he reached out with one foot and carefully stepped onto the web.


To his surprise, it didn’t snap.


Encouraged, Damon placed more weight onto the line. Still, it held firm. With arms stretched out like a tightrope walker, he began shifting side to side, inching forward one cautious step at a time.


Richard watched with growing excitement, bouncing on his heels.


When Damon realized the webbing wasn’t just strong—it was solid—his grin returned, wider than ever. He started moving more confidently, placing one foot directly in front of the other, walking the line as if he were in a circus act.


Then he got cocky.


With a gleam in his eye, Damon cartwheeled across the webline. He landed it, laughing, before leaping into the air and letting his body drop. The web stretched, sagged, and then launched him back upward like a trampoline.


“Damon!” Richard shouted in alarm, hands clutching his head—but then he sighed in relief when Damon flipped mid-air and stuck the landing on the web like it was second nature.


Now fully embracing the moment, Damon bounced again and again. He flipped, spun, and even balanced upside-down in a handstand, all while cackling with delight. He peered down at the alleyway far below, the wind in his face and adrenaline buzzing through his veins.


Richard stared in awe, eyes glittering with wonder. “That is so cool…” he whispered to himself. He grabbed his notebook and began furiously sketching and scribbling notes, capturing everything Damon was doing.


Damon bounced one final time, flipped backward, and landed smoothly back on the rooftop beside Richard.


“Alright, let’s see…” Richard muttered as he flipped through the pages. “So far, I’ve got: enhanced coordination, increased balance, improved agility, and—definitely—tensile webbing.”


He looked up from his notebook, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. “Now to test if you can swing.”


Damon nodded and gripped the web that still stretched between the buildings. “Here goes nothing,” he said, backing up a few steps. He took a breath.


“Heave-ho!” Damon yelled as he leapt forward, swinging out into the open air with an exhilarated laugh.


It started great.


Until—


“WAIT! How do I sto—”


WHAM!


Damon slammed hard into the brick wall of the building opposite with a painful-sounding thud, his limbs spread like a starfish.


Richard winced, covering his mouth as he let out a strangled groan. “Oof… oh, that’s gonna leave a mark.”


Damon peeled off the wall with a loud squelch of web detachment, gravity claiming him as he tumbled downward. He landed directly on the roof of a parked car with a deafening crash, the alarm blaring instantly. The roof caved in under the impact as Damon rolled off with a wheezy groan, flopping to the pavement.


Richard rushed to the edge of the rooftop, biting his knuckles in horror. 


“DAMON, ARE YOU OKAY?!”


Down below, Damon was curled on his side beside the dented car, holding his lower back with both hands. His face was red and contorted in pain, but he shakily propped himself up and raised one trembling thumb in the air.


“My back…” he wheezed out, his voice strained. “Ow… my back…”


He quickly jotted down more notes. “Enhanced durability confirmed. Possible healing factor—maybe.”


Slamming the notebook shut, he threw it into his bag and shouted, “I’ll be down in a second! Just stay there and try not to die!”


He sprinted toward the fire escape, his sneakers clanging against the metal as he descended as fast as he could, practically leaping down steps at a time.


As the car alarm continued to echo through the alley, Damon laid back on the sidewalk and groaned again, “Totally worth it…”