Chapter 28 : A Month in Motion
New York, Queens – Alex's POV
By the time I got home, the city was already wide awake. Sunlight spilled through the kitchen windows, warm and bright, a stark contrast to the dim, electric haze of the night before.
I'd dropped Gwen off a little earlier — her sleepy and satisfied smile still replayed in my mind — and now I was back to something resembling normal life. Or, at least, as normal as it ever got.
The smell of toasted bread and coffee filled the kitchen as I slid into my usual seat at the table. My mom was flipping through her tablet, half-listening to the morning news, while Wendy sat across from me with a grin that told me I was in trouble.
"Well, well…" she began, stirring her cereal with exaggerated innocence. "Someone looks like he didn't get much sleep."
I raised an eyebrow, pretending to focus on buttering my toast. "Morning to you too."
She leaned forward on her elbows, smirking. "Come on, you can't fool me. You disappear for a whole evening — dinner, movie, and an overnight stay, if the rumors are true — and now you're all… glowing."
I nearly choked on my coffee. "Glowing?"
"Uh-huh." She tilted her head, clearly enjoying herself. "So? How was your romantic getaway, mister mysterious?"
I sighed, trying not to smile. "It was just a date, Wendy."
"Just a date," she repeated, drawing out the words. "Right. And I'm guessing the hotel part was for… academic purposes?"
"Wendy."
She laughed, delighted by how easily she was getting to me. "Relax, I'm kidding. Well, mostly."
I shook my head, but couldn't help chuckling. The teasing was annoying, sure, but it was also grounding — a reminder that for a few minutes, I could just be a guy having breakfast with his family, not someone with a secret system buzzing in the back of his head.
Once breakfast was over, I gathered my dishes, rinsed them off, and slipped out of the kitchen before Wendy could throw another jab my way.
Back in my room, I shut the door behind me and exhaled slowly. The quiet hit immediately — no laughter, no city noise, just me and the faint hum of the system somewhere in the back of my mind.
I sat down on the edge of my bed, elbows resting on my knees, and focused.
"Status," I murmured under my breath.
The familiar digital interface flickered into existence before my eyes, text and symbols glowing faintly in the air like a private projection only I could see.
[Name: Alexander Orzat]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 18]
[Abilities: — Advanced Computer skill / Photographic Memory / Harem King / Seed of Potential / Pleasure Lock / Mind Whisper —]
[Template (In Progress): — Leech (Earth-58163) (11%) —]
[Template (Assimilated): — Yuuki Rito —]
I stared at it for a while, letting the numbers and brackets settle in. Eleven percent.
Still a long way to go.
The progress was there — real, tangible — but it barely scratched the surface of what this system could do. If anything, it only reminded me how far I still had to climb.
I checked the gacha half-hoping I'd earned enough points for another pull.
No luck.
The icon stayed dim, taunting me with that faint "insufficient points" message.
With a quiet sigh, I dismissed the screen and leaned back in my chair. Sitting around waiting for points wasn't going to change anything. If I wanted results, I needed structure. A plan.
So I grabbed my notebook and started sketching out a schedule — not just for training the Leech template, but for everything.
Morning sessions for ability focus — endurance, absorption control, awareness drills.
Afternoons reserved for coding, refining the AI plugin for Minecraft.
Evenings… open. Enough room for Gwen. For family dinners. For something close to normal life.
It wasn't perfect, but it was balance. And balance, I realized, was the one thing keeping all of this from slipping out of control.
New York, Queens – Alex's POV – A month later
The city had shifted just a little in that time — same streets, same noise, but the rhythm felt different now. Maybe because I was different.
I was heading toward Gwen's place after classes at ESU, the late afternoon light spilling between the buildings as I walked. My bag was slung over one shoulder, my mind running through everything that had changed in the last few weeks.
The Minecraft project was further along than I'd expected. The first playable build was live — rough around the edges, sure, but functional. The agents on the cyberdeck had done incredible work filling in gaps while I streamlined the code. More than that, something strange had started happening: programming itself was becoming easier. My focus sharper. Patterns that used to take hours to design now unfolded in minutes.
Then there was Leech.
The progress was… significant. The effective range had expanded to nearly thirty meters, and it no longer seemed limited to mutants. I wasn't entirely sure where the boundary was. I knew it worked on mutants, on people like Gwen, but beyond that… it was uncharted territory. Could it reach into magic? The cosmic? The kind of powers that defied science entirely? I didn't know.
It reminded me of the first time Gwen had lost her powers because of me — the shock in her eyes, the way she'd stared at her hands, trying to understand.
And then there was Gwen herself.
In that month, everything between us had deepened — the trust, the connection, the quiet moments that made the chaos fade. We saw each other almost every day, and at night… well, the boundaries between affection and desire had blurred completely. We'd grown close — closer than I ever expected — and I could feel that closeness shaping both of us, in ways neither of us dared to say out loud.
Even now, just thinking about her brought that familiar pull — a mix of warmth and tension that never quite left. I could still hear her laugh, still see the way her eyes softened whenever she looked at me.
A faint smile touched my lips as the memory came back — that night in her room, the air heavy with the quiet comfort of shared silence. The city lights had been spilling through the window, painting soft gold lines across her skin.
I remember it clearly — the way she turned to me, her voice low, thoughtful, as if she'd been holding the question back for a while.
New York, Queens – 3nd's POV – A few days earlier
Under the warm amber glow of the lamp, Gwen's room felt sealed off from the noise of New York — a small, safe corner of the world where big dreams could be spoken out loud. She sat cross-legged on the bed, her hair falling freely around her shoulders, her expression lit by that familiar spark Alex had learned to recognize — the one that always appeared right before she made a bold decision.
"I've been thinking a lot about this," she began, voice steady but charged with energy. "I don't just want to train anymore. I want to go out there — to actually do something. Stop crime, help people… make a difference."
Alex arched an eyebrow, though there was already a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "You want to be a hero?"
"I think I already am," she said, half-smiling, half-defiant. "Or at least, I could be. Someone's already doing it out there, Alex — swinging across rooftops, stopping carjackings, pulling people out of burning buildings. He's like me. Or at least, close enough."
Her voice softened slightly as she added, "People call him Spider-Man."
Alex leaned back in his chair, letting that sink in. He'd seen the same reports she had — grainy phone videos, flashes of red and blue across Manhattan's skyline. And deep down, he was almost certain it was Peter. The timing, the location, the silence about it at school… it all fit too neatly.
"So that's what pushed you," he said quietly, his tone more thoughtful than surprised.
Gwen nodded, her expression earnest. "If he's out there already, then maybe this city needs more people like us. He can't handle it all alone, Alex. And… I can't just sit here and watch anymore."
There was no hesitation in her eyes. Just conviction.
Alex studied her for a long moment, and then his faint smile grew. He didn't see recklessness there — he saw purpose. Strength. The kind of drive that had been building in her ever since the day she got her powers.
"You really mean it, huh?" he said finally.
"I do. I know I still have things to learn, but I'm ready. I feel ready."
Alex's voice softened, warmth threading through his words. "You are. The control you've got now — that's not luck, Gwen. That's work. And with the Seed of Potential still strengthening you, your growth's accelerating faster than you realize."
She blinked, a hopeful smile tugging at her lips. "You think I could actually make a difference?"
"I know you can," Alex said without a hint of doubt. "And if Spider-Man's out there, then maybe it's time Spider-Woman joined the game."
That earned him a laugh — genuine and bright, the kind that filled the whole room. She reached out, nudging his shoulder playfully. "Spider-Woman, huh? Not bad. You think it suits me?"
"Completely," Alex replied with an easy grin. "Though if you're going to do this, we'll make sure you're ready. I'll help you refine your control, build some gear, figure out a disguise. You won't be jumping into this alone."
Her chest warmed at his words. She hadn't realized until that moment how much she'd wanted his approval — his belief.
"Thanks, Alex," she murmured softly, resting her hand over his. "For believing in me."
He turned his hand over to lace their fingers together, his thumb brushing lightly across her knuckles. "Always."
For a while, they just sat like that — the quiet hum of trust and something deeper between them, the flicker of possibility shining in Gwen's eyes. Outside, New York stretched endlessly, full of danger and promise alike. But in that room, it all began — the idea of her stepping into the light.