"Whooo!" I yelled in half-terrified, half-exultant joy as I swung from building to building via my webline. Being locked in the locker had been one of the worst experiences of my life, yet it had given me these super awesome powers.
Sophia would be so pissed that she had, in a very roundabout way, done me a favour by torturing me for fifteen months. Ditto for Emma and Madison.
Extending my other arm, I used my two middle fingers and tapped twice on the pressure sensor on my palm, triggering my web-shooter. It fired a line of web fluid that attached to the building I was aiming at. Letting go of the one I had swung on until this moment, I started to swing on my new one.
From what I had discovered since my powers woke up, I have Brute, Tinker, Mover and Thinker powers, quite the collection. I invented my web-shooters, web-fluid and even a fancy polymer cloth. I'd kinda had to invent that last one because I could stick to walls using any part of my body. The downside was that any regular cloth –synthetic or organic- got stuck to my skin as well and wouldn't let go for at least ten minutes, which was a bummer.
Still, I got in contact with Parian, a Rogue Cape and worked out a deal for her making my costume, so it wasn't too bad. As repayment for her making my cloth and making it into a costume for me, I became her in-city courier.
Glancing down at my costume, I had to grin underneath my full face mask. It was mostly blue, with my feet, hands, central chest, shoulders and head coloured red with black web-like lines on it.
Landing on the roof of a building, I cocked my head as my slightly-enhanced hearing picked up a guttural voice shouting at someone. Creeping along the roof, I peeked over the side of the roof and silently cursed. Standing amidst a group of the Azn Bad Boyz was a figure that no one in Brockton Bay could mistake; Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu.
"-don't care if they're kids, just shoot them!" he was saying, "If you see that little bitch down, shoot her again just to be certain!"
Whoa! He was going to kill kids?! So not happening, not on my watch!
Hurriedly, I pulled the torso-section of my costume up to reveal my utility belt. I refilled my web-shooters with fresh cartridges before smoothing my costume out again. I knew I had to be careful when up against the likes of Lung. He had fought Leviathan the Endbringer to a standstill and had beaten down the entire Protectorate when he arrived. Underestimating him would be stupid.
Sticking to the wall, I crawled around until I was above two goons. I zipped down, wrapped them in webbing and leapt back into the shadows before any of the other gangbangers realised what had happened.
"What the fuck happened here?!" Lung roared, his metal mask not dampening his bellow in the slightest.
There is…one aspect of my powers that I don't like. It isn't a serious problem, but it is…aggravating.
"Well now, isn't this quite the gathering?" I said obnoxiously, "I hate to barge in on a private party, but you guys are setting off the ugly-meter, so I decided to gatecrash you."
This…is what I was talking about. For whatever reason, when I am in my costume and only when I am in my costume, my personality shifts and I talk smack and act irrelevant. It does act as a good cover for me, but it's really embarrassing.
"Find whoever it is and kill 'em!" Lung ordered his men.
I took the time to examine them. All of the twenty or so remaining goons had some kind of melee weapon; crowbar, knife, metal pipe, a cosh. None of them from what I could see had a gun. One thing I didn't have to worry about.
Leaping from the building, I kicked one man in the jaw, holding my strength back otherwise I'd kill him, before moving on to lay out another with a single punch. Suddenly, my senses went haywire and I ducked down, the steel pipe narrowly missing my head.
This was what led me to believe I had Thinker abilities. I had some kind of danger-sensing precognition when I was under attack. It was very useful, but made me feel as if I had pins and needles all over my head every time. As my webbing that I had developed was like a spider's web, I had dubbed it my 'spider-sense,' although it does sound a little corny.
I lashed out with a spinning low kick than sent the thug smashing to the ground, then bounced over to slam two other guys' heads together. I even webbed them together.
My 'spider sense' shrieked at me and I leapt acrobatically into the air, dodging the streetlight that Lung had ripped out of the ground to attack me with. Seriously, who just rips huge metal posts out of the ground?!
"Whew! That was close!" I said theatrically as I landed on the wall, "Sadly for you, close is not good enough, chief."
"'m gonna 'ill 'ou!" the man growled, his flesh shifting as he started to transform. Man, he must be really pissed if he was transforming without me landing a single punch yet!
"Uh-huh, sure you will." I shot back as his mask fell off, his face distorted by his transformation, "Let me know when you're actually going to do more than shake your walking stick at me, old-timer."
With a roar, the villain opened his mouth and breathed fire at me! I ran around behind him across the walls and webbed his feet to the ground before leaping on top of his shoulders and striking him once, twice, thrice! All three punches landed right on his nose; the second one breaking it and the third turning it into pulp.