✓ | the greatest ⇢ peter parker

four

MALEA TRUDGED HER FEET ALONG THE FOREST FLOOR.

     She had grown a pounding headache, which she had thought had came from that vision, almost a nightmare. It had honestly made her regret turning Holland down for the ride home. But Lea didn't want to think herself weak. She knew that she could get herself through this. Malea knew her capabilities.

     Or so she thought. During that target practice, she had never thought that the haunting of her parents' death would appear at a simple time like training. It had always occurred to her, that she had never truly accepted the fact that her parents were gone.

     And it was all her fault.

     Clouds had begun to gather, allowing the sky to look grey, and Malea had sworn that she had heard a low grumble in the distance of the clouds. Soon after, a heavy rainstorm had befallen her.

     Looking for shelter, Lea reached out to the back of her head to pull her hood up, but realised that there was no hood to pull up. She had left her zipper back at their training area. So instead, she tightened her arms around her waist, as her hair got damper and damper by the second.

      She kicked a pile of leaves, in order to take her anger out on her forgetful mind. "Great. Along with a headache, I'll also have to nurse a cold."

     So Lea, not having any other option, continued walking through the forest, filled with soggy leaves. She had actually gotten used to the rain for some time, ignoring what it was doing to her after a while.

And she had been quite engrossed in her trudging through the forest, that is, until she heard a 'swoosh' from the opposite of her. She had heard it multiple times, and had at one point stopped walking and looked around for any possible cause of the noise.

Lea turned around abruptly, and jumped. She was face-to-face, with, well, someone who she didn't know how to describe.

She was sure this person was human. The structure of the way it moved had given it away. But he was wearing some kind of suit, which Lea thought to be equivalent to a pyjama onesie. It was red and blue, and this person was also wearing a mask over it's head, with some pretty big goggles.

"Who are you?" She shouted, more squealed.

The thing jumped on a wet tree branch. "Uh, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man?" It was now obvious he was a male, judging by his introduction as 'Spider-Man'. He tried to speak confidently, which ended up as an introduction to question. Malea didn't know which she was more; unimpressed by this so-called 'Spider-Man', or freezing.

"And what are you doing, 'Spider-boy'? Because if you would just like to stand here talking to me, then I would appreciate if I could go home now before I freeze to death." Lea sassed, her arms clutching onto each of the other.

Spider-Man jumped down from the tree branch, with such a well calculated landing, Lea wondered if he ever fell down in his lifetime.

"I actually have something to give you," Spider-Man fished behind him, making Lea curious. He pulled out a grey jumper, which Lea knew wasn't hers. "I wouldn't have let you freeze on your walk home, so I'll give you mine." Spider-Man handed Lea the jumper, as the brunette girl took it carefully.

"Thank you. And does this Spider-Man have a name when he's not doing his services?" Lea asked, pulling the grey article of clothing over her head, then resorting to looking at the person opposite her with a questioning look.

"There is a name, yes. But I would prefer if it were kept under wraps."

"Ooh, I'm intrigued." Lea joked. "But thank you, I don't even know how to repay you for this." She gave Spider-Man a thankful look. Just as she was about to continue off walking, Spider-Man spoke yet again.

"How is your hip? I noticed that guy a few days ago had quite a hard grip on you."

Lea froze. How did he know? She turned back around again, to face Spider-Man hanging upside-down from a tree branch.

"Ca-can I just ask; how did you know about that?" She asked, both worry and curiosity in the motive of her question.

"I was the one who saved you -- of course I knew. Don't you remember?" Spider-Man flipped onto his feet, facing Malea. He overcame her in height, by a couple of inches, which was one of the reasons Lea had the idea he was round about her age.

Lea stepped forward, folding her arms. "I remember being blindfolded. And being swung through the air, just before the blindfold came off, and I found myself at Delmar's Deli, alone. Was that you too?"

Spider-Man shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't know where you lived, so I just let you go there."

"Wow, I guess my debts to you are piling up. Thank you, again, Spider-boy."

Lea started walking back yet again, when Spider-Man called to her, swinging to another wet tree branch to keep in step with her. "If it helps to clear one of those debts, you could call me Spider-Man?"

Malea laughed, shaking her head a little. "I'm sure you're probably the same age as me, but sure thing, Spider-Man."

He watched as she slowly inched out of view, and pulled off his mask. Peter Parker followed his eyes until the last of Malea Danbury vanished from his sight. She was different; unlike any other he had come across. And Peter was determined to find out why -- with or without the suit.