nextgenerationmarvel | Reflexes Had Got the Better of Me ((Open to Street-Level Types))

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Reflexes Had Got the Better of Me ((Open to Street-Level Types))

Vesper was out on his nightly patrol. His wings were open, and he was soaring between tall buildings toward the Bronx. His nightly patrols were now incessantly regular now. Not the where, just that he did them. The heiress he had been dating had gotten too busy with college and running the family business; something had to give. Vesper had been surprised the relationship had lasted as long as it did. Also, that he had avoided telling her his secret identity.

So, he was slightly distracted for a moment as he flew through the New York skyline. Until his keen ears picked up the sound of a gunshot. He quickly wheeled around and headed in that direction. Until he was near where he thought it was, and the car backfired again. He grumbled to himself and climbed higher in the sky.

Again, Vesper searched for more crime to stop as he soared. His heightened sense of hearing searching about as he continued toward the Bronx.

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Day costume? Night costume? Jesse Hunt kept on giving furtive glances to his reflection as he gracefully glided past brightly lit glass-paned buildings, glad that his night-vision lenses brightened up the night so that he could see things clearly. He'd given the costume thing some consideration lately. Yes, on the one hand, it really made no sense for him to have two different costumes. On the other hand, the red and black one he wore would be great for stealthy night stuff, and a brighter coloured one (White? Classic red and blue?) would work well for day time use.

But then would the city think that they had two Spider-Men running around?

He took a graceful left turn and circled around the Chrysler Building before turning towards Midtown. Spider-Man's old stomping grounds, he mused. The original Spider-Man. Which Jesse was decidedly not. Granted, I'm Spider-Man in honour of my mom...

He turned another corner and let the winds take him where they would, simply thinking about his life so far. There hadn’t really been a lot that had happened since he had put on the Spider-Man costume. He’d made a potential friend in Vesper, but he wasn’t really sure if that was going to build into a solid friendship or not. He’d fought the Green Goblin, but he hadn’t really found a true archenemy of his own. (Not that he especially wanted one, and knowing his luck, it would likely be someone insane that his mother fought, like Morgana le Fay or someone equally nuts.)

His ears open, Jesse noted that there was no real crime happening in the city tonight. Guess everyone's still tired from the holidays. Either that, or Vesper's really been doing a kick-ass job.

He gracefully shifted from one wind current to another, this time heading towards the Bronx.

That place usually had more crime, didn't it?

Vesper pushed his hearing out as far as it would go. He was searching hard for some crime a to stop. Even a puse snatching would do. He banked hard around a building...

... and nearly ran into a four-limbed spider.

Vesper cussed, folded in his wings, and dropped down. He waited a second until he opened his wings again to catch an updraft.

Spider-Man let out a decidedly unmanly, girly, high-pitched scream.

A rogue venom blast shot out of his left hand and maimed an innocent rat which, heretofore, had simply been scurrying across a rooftop.

He also lost any purchase he had on his wind current and went tumbling down towards the ground.

With yet another scream.

This one slightly more manly.

Vesper noticed the screaming spider falling down toward the ground. He cussed again in Portuguese and folded his wings in to dive toward the falling hero. He hoped to catch Spider-Man rather than watch him bounce off the pavement.

Consider Spider-Man caught.

All in all, it was a very heroic rescue.

From beneath his full-facial cowl, Jesse playfully batted his eyelashes at Vesper.

"My hero."

"Don't tempt me to drop you," Vesper grumbled as he spread his wings again.

He activated the engine on the wingpack so they could bank up sharply rather than splatter as a duo on the pavement.

Spider-Man chuckled. "All jokes aside, thank you. Although, damn dude. You came out of nowhere." He stuck a leg out and swirled his foot around at the ankle - testing the air currents. As soon as he could, he'd detach and float under his own power.

Unless Vesper dropped him.

"So, where are you taking me tonight?"

What? He couldn't help it.

"Here." Vesper did drop him.

On a rooftop.

As he leveled out and wheeled around to head toward the Bronx again.

And there was that high-pitched scream again.

Cut short by a thud.

"Hey! We meet after months, and this is what you do to me? What happened to chivalry?!"

With that, he latched onto a wind current and followed Vesper. "Rude!"

From the stream of talking, Vesper knew exactly where the Spider-Man was.

"I didn't know you were a damsel needing chivalry. Your outfit smooths out your curves well."

He flew up next to Vesper and scowled. "Flattery will get you nowhere, mister."

"That's what I was hoping." He looked out into the dark New York sky and stretched his ears farther than his eyes could see.

Where the heck was the crime in the city? His efforts could not have driven it that far underground yet.

It's possible everyone was too tired out from the holiday season to actually commit any crimes. Maybe they'd all decided that they wanted to be on Santa's non-naughty list this year?

Yeah. That'll last.

"Heroes for Hire," Jesse said suddenly, looking at Vesper. "It's a concept I think we should revisit."

"Heroes on Fire?" He might not have heard that right. His attention had also been elsewhere. He almost heard a carjacking, but no. That was someone's TV show.

"..." While that probably had some Cirque du Soleil merit to it, that's not quite what Jesse had in mind. "No, no. Heroes for Hire. I mean, look at us. A couple of schmucks out late at night, looking for crime to fight. Why not have the crime come pay us to fight it?" He paused. There was some bad logic in there somewhere. "I mean, we hire ourselves out as heroes. People come and pay us. We fight crime for them."

Vesper shook his head. "I do not need to be paid to do this. The people who need this most don't have the money. I'd rather just be a vigilante rather than a mercenary."

Also, he had the research and development projects of Brazil's biggest company behind him in a way. He did not need to be paid.

"Okay, so you don't want the money. That's fine. I can reap the benefits of profit. You can be my partner in crime! The...the..." he was tempted to say the Robin to his Batman, but Jesse had a feeling that wouldn't go over well. "The Ethel to my Lucy!"

"I don't do crime, I stop it," Vesper pointed out before banking away. Was that an almost silent alarm?

...

No. Dammit. How could the underworld have taken a night off when he needed to be busy?

"...it was just a thought." Jesse frowned. "Besides, it worked for Power Man and Iron Fist."

"Worked for who?" There were approximately too many American heroes for Vesper to keep track of. In fact, he was surprised he kept running into just one and not bumping into some other hero ever couple of blocks.

He started to bank down and head toward Randalls Island Park.

"Power Man and Iron Fist!" Jesse replied. "You know. Big African-American guy in a bright yellow shirt and gleaming silver tiara?" He puffed out his chest as well as he could while in-flight and did his best Luke Cage impression. "Sweet Christmas!" Pause. "That may have sounded a little racist actually," he added glumly. "And Iron Fist was his best friend and crime-fighting partner. I thought he was an Iron Man rip-off who could only afford iron gloves, but no, apparently he was like way cool and way rich."

"I see." Though he didn't really. He wasn't from this country and was not familiar with all the superheroes that came from here. He was trying not to show it.

"You see...but do you believe?" Jesse asked.

"I believe you are crazier than me," he commented as he slowly spiraled toward the dark greenery of the park at night time. Maybe he could find something if he wasn't moving all the time.

"I...hey now." Spider-Man followed Vesper. "You'd still be doing some good, you know."

Vesper spiraled down until his feet touched the ground. His wings folded in with a sching because he had lost concentration on his sound dampening abilities.

"I do what I can so no other son loses his mother." He stared out at the dark woods around him as he sent his hearing a mile or two into the Bronx from his position in the park.

Spider-Man quieted down at that. "Which is part of why Heroes for Hire exists. Imagine for a moment a son desperately looking for his mother. The Avengers are busy. The X-Men are off in space battling the Phoenix Force. Again. He needs help, and he needs a way to contact a hero to help. Do you see where I'm going with this? I mean, if you're still not interested, I get it. But this isn't a full-time thing. It's just...a way for people to get help, who may not ordinarily get it."

Some of what Spider-Man was saying was a little muffled since Vesper was casting his hearing out broad. He shook his head because he got the gist of what was being said.

"If a son is desperate for his mother, he should start with the police. They are easier to contact than pinning hope on superheroes. Nor should he have to pay for the privilege more than he already is. Even one cent more for help finding his mother is more than he should have to pay." Vesper had a hard time keeping the heat under his words out of his voice. He turned more fully toward the young hero standing in the clearing with him.

"As for being a Hero for Hire, I will not appear to be easily bought. I will go out and help people as best I can. I will clean up the thugs people should never have to meet. It is not something I need a team helping me to do."

"..." Jesse listened intently, and tried not to let any of the heat in Vesper's voice affect him. Finally, he held his hands up. "Alright. I get it. You don't want in." He took a step back. "It's an altruism thing. I understand that. I'll just quietly back away now."

"Good luck on your team, but I will not be apart of it." He shook his head slowly before putting his attention back into the Bronx. Doing what he did was a very personal thing. He had to make right what went oh so wrong to take his mother from him.

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Reflexes Had Got the Better of Me ((Open to Street-Level Types))

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