The Next Generation of Marvel Heroes

 Everyone, Spider-Man was sure, would be dealing with what happened in Murderworld in their own way. It was hideous, it really was. On some level, he knew that he should have been trying to figure a way out of the thing without the girl’s sacrifice even being an option. At the same time, though, he realize that there always had to be one person in the group who was willing or able to do something the others weren’t. Sure, he was no Wolverine (perhaps thankfully) but he was also a spider, and spiders were important in any ecosystem. Without them, some bugs would run rampant. Without them, things wouldn’t get caught in a web and blocked from doing harm. Spiders saved those that needed saving…but they also did away with the things that didn’t need to exist. 

Besides. I want to join SHIELD one day. They have their questionable goings on as well. You have to be able to live in the grey, webby area. I mean, not everyone can have that true blue Captain American personality, right?

He loosed himself from the wind current he was riding and landed on the Baxter Building, surveying the city underneath him. Besides, she survived. And it’s not our fault she landed in the position she was in. That’s a far bigger game than us.

He sighed, though. More and more, he was realizing that super heroics weren’t just about the wit and the quick fighting. There was more to it, and it was darker than he’d realized. He’d always been aware of that, of course, but he’d never really faced it head on until now. 

Guess it really is time to embrace the Man part of my codename.

If there was one thing that Jesse Hunt loved more than winter break, it was spring break. A week off from classes, a week to do whatever he wanted to do, without stressing about a paper or a test or some horrible lab experiment gone awry that inevitably leads to an on campus confrontation between Spider-Man and the monster of the week. Unlike winter break, here, he wasn't worried about new professors or new classes or what new evil the New Year's was going to bring. No, this was an almost entirely care-free break.

With the exception of the small gathering of badly costumed, decidedly un-super-villains he'd just rounded up and left for the police to find, of course.

While most of Jesse's classmates had headed to sunnier, sandier pastures for the week, Jesse had stayed behind to work on some other things - namely the new Longxu hooks he'd created, along with the help of his parents. Unlike previous Spiders, Jesse didn't have or employ webbing of any sort, and he'd realized that he had a lack of something that he could use for moments where there wasn't an air current strong enough to carry him or something.

Currently, he was trying his best to learn how to swing with them, in case his powers ever gave out. The spider-shaped hooks that were attached to the ends of the retractable, carbonadium-alloy coils easily attached to almost anything without causing too deep a puncture or anything. It was strong and resistant, and Jesse was willing to bet that it had cost his parents a pretty penny to get him this latest addition to his arsenal. Now he simply needed to prove his decision to get them right.

Which meant concentrating and not swinging smack into a plate glass window.

Seriously? Gliding on air currents was easier.