{Two Days Later}
AJ finishes texting Tenn, who's currently hanging out with their blind (but very cool) friend, Henry Murdock. Tenn says that Henry offers his condolences.
Clementine walks into the room carrying a foam food container from the cafeteria downstairs. She greets AJ before sitting down.
Clementine: Hey, AJ. Did you want something?
AJ: Nah. I'm fine. Thank for asking, though.
She sits down by the bed near a table and begins eating. AJ looks at her, then at your comatose self on the bed.
Clementine: So, have you gone out patrolling?
AJ: A little. Mostly been helping people get their cats out of trees and such...
Clementine: Getting jitters thinking of the big-scale things?
AJ shrugs.
AJ: I just don't know where to start. I've done everything with Y/N. A part of me is scared, I'm not going to lie...but then the other part of me wants to go out and find who the hell did this.
Clementine nods, giving a glance at you on the bed.
Clementine: Whatever you do, Y/N would be proud. He understands your potential...not only to be a good Spider-Man...but possibly become a better one.
AJ appreciates her words. Suddenly, a knock is heard at the door. Omar opens the door and walks in holding flowers. Clementine is elated to see him finally visit.
Clementine: Omar!
She gets up from her seat and goes over to greet her friend with a hug. Omar puts the flowers down near the others.
Omar: I'm sorry I didn't come earlier...
Clementine: It's okay. Y/N appreciates it no matter what.
Omar looks at you on the hospital bed. He looks at the tubes used to feed you I.V fluids, then at the heart monitor nearby. He also sees the bandages around your torso.
Omar: Jesus...this happened to him at the ceremony?
Clementine: We still don't know who bombed the venue. He was the only one they recovered alive.
Omar remembers that night. The bomb went off soon after hearing you warn everybody. Sophie was knocked unconscious, and he was trying to help. He then saw you fighting a masked man with a metal arm in the middle of the destroyed ballroom. You saved him and Sophie. The shock of the situation didn't let him comprehend it at first, but after many days of reflecting and thinking, he realized you are Spider-Man.
Omar: I'm sorry about all of this, Clem...
Clementine: What?
Omar puts a hand on his face.
Omar: He saved my life...and Sophie's.
AJ starts to listen in as he sits on his chair. He was staying silent at first to let Clementine catch up with a friend. Now it was time to eavesdrop.
Clementine: Omar...what happened at the ceremony?
Omar: After the first explosion, Y/N started fighting this masked dude. He had a metal arm and a shit-ton of guns. The guy looked at me trying to carry Sophie out, so he shot at us. Y/N leaped in front of us to take the gunfire.
Clementine continues to listen in awe.
Omar: I thought he would've been dead there...but he just got back up. He told us to run before shooting a web at the man...at that moment I didn't realize it...but now it all makes sense. He's Spider-Man.
Omar looks at you again on the bed, the beeping of the heart monitor sounding in their silence.
Omar: He saved us...and now I don't know if I'll be able to thank him.
Clementine rubs Omar's shoulder to comfort him.
Clementine: He wouldn't want a thanks. He does this because he wants to. He cares about every single one of us in this city.
Omar looks at Clementine.
Omar: You knew?
She nods.
Clementine: For the last seven years.
Omar looks back at the kid he hasn't seen before, AJ.
Clementine: He's a friend of Y/N's. They met at the shelter.
AJ gets up and walks over to Omar.
AJ: You said you saw a guy fight Y/N? With a metal arm?
Omar: Yeah...he looked like some mercenary.
AJ nods, and then walks out of the room. Omar looks back at Clementine in confusion, who simply shrugs.
• •
{Later That Night}
In his makeshift Spider-Man suit, AJ perches himself on the railing of a building. He looks upon the skyline beneath the stars.
AJ had informed Agent Aaron about the information he learned from Omar. Aaron couldn't think of who the mercenary could be. He told him he would inform his boss about it, though.
AJ phones Tenn through the Bluetooth in his mask.
Tenn: Man in the chair at your service.
AJ chuckles at his remark. Earlier AJ had talked with Tenn about wanting to find out who the mercenary is. He was going to use this night to take down criminals and question them. He wanted to at least do something.
AJ: You see any incidents nearby in Hell's Kitchen?
Tenn: Not yet. We should see some soon.
AJ: Tisk tisk. That app of yours gets only one star from me.
Tenn: It's in the beta phase, asshole. You'll eat your words soon.
As AJ looks upon the streets, Tenn gets a ping from the app.
Tenn: Bingo. There's an attempted robbery at a store half a mile from you.
AJ: That sounds like a job for Kid Arachnid.
THWIP!
AJ swings off the railing. Tenn chimes in.
Tenn: Just say Spider-Man, dude.
AJ: I don't know, it'll feel wrong since—
Suddenly, AJ's spider sense blares. He hears a gunshot and a bullet hits his web and cuts it. AJ falls, but safely lands on a rooftop below by barrel-rolling onto his feet. Tenn hears the commotion.
Tenn: AJ! You okay?
AJ looks around, then sees a figure appear from behind a roof duct. He's masked, holding a sniper rifle and equipped with a metal arm.
AJ: Looks like I found the mercenary...
Tenn: What?! What the fuck are you going to do?
AJ gets up and faces the direction of the Winter Soldier, who drops his rifle.
AJ: I'm going to kick his ass.
AJ hangs up the call and balls his fist. He may be in over his head with this, but he doesn't care. AJ charges and leaps at the Winter Soldier.
He rolls out of the way as AJ punches into the floor. The Winter Soldier unholsters akimbo pistols and fires at AJ. He dodges the gunfire by cartwheeling out of the way. He shoots web-lines at both his handguns and pulls them out of his hands. The Winter Soldier unsheathes his knife and runs at AJ.
He's too fast at first, and ends up cutting AJ's left shoulder. AJ then dodges his next four swipes and backflips away from him. The Winter Soldier quickly unsheathes another knife and throws it towards the teenager. It stabs into AJ's thigh.
AJ: Argh! Fuck!
The Winter Soldier leaps at AJ, but he rolls over and causes The Asset to punch into the floor with his metal arm, cracking the concrete. AJ tries to quickly get up, but the Winter Soldier had already recovered and kicks AJ hard in the stomach, launching him several yards back into another roof vent.
AJ groans in pain. He pulls out the knife from his thigh and throws it aside. He sees the mysterious mercenary making his way towards him. AJ doesn't know what to do, and expects his end to be soon.
From the Winter Soldier's point of view, the hero suddenly vanishes. He's confused and looks around. He was about to finish the job for good, but now the kid is gone. The Winter Soldier glares beneath his mask, and drops down from the rooftop.
Nearby, AJ reappears from thin air sitting on top of a water tower. He looks at his hands.
AJ: What the hell was that? Did I just turn invisible?
AJ takes a breath, seeing that that the mercenary was gone. Thanks to his newfound camouflage ability, he basically escaped death.
AJ: Can't wait to tell Y/N about his.