May slowly walked along the crossing, her hip paining with every small step. But she had to get to the other side.
She hated that she had to cross the street in order to get home every time she went to the corner store. It was an annoyance, but an annoyance she must deal with.
She was suddenly startled from her thoughts when the traffic began to move.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, as she saw the light was no longer green. Realizing her vulnerable position right in the middle of the road, she lost her concentration, dropping her walking stick and tripping slightly.
She gasped, moving her hands in front of her in an attempt to break the fall, when a strong, strangely textured hand grabbed her wrist, (and another her waist)..., and pulled her upright.
"Gotcha!" a friendly voice proclaimed. "Are you alright there ma'am?"
May took a few steadying breaths, and looked at the hand supporting her, which happened to be covered in a red glove with a strange black vein-like webbing pattern over it. The hand moved from her wrist to take her hand, and gave it a light squeeze.
"You okay?" was said again, but their time with an edge of concern.
"Oh yes, yes, I'm okay. Nothing can take their old girl down that easy," May replied confidently. She then trailed her eyes up the red and blue covered arm to come face to face with two large, white, bug lenses.
"Oh! You must be that new hero all the young folks keep talking about! Umm, what's your name? Hellish Blizzard! That's it!" she said, taking her hand away from where it had been sitting under her chin in thought, and pointing enthusiastically up in the air in front of Hellish Blizzard. "I'll tell ya, the old noggin is still good for something," she said, tapping the side of her head.
"Ha ha, well, you can call me Hellish Blizzard. Can I help you get across the road ma'am?" Hellish Blizzard responded, offering for her to wrap her arm around her shoulders.
"Oh, why yes, thank you. How very kind of you," May answered, wrapping an arm around the back of her neck, the other pressing against her chest.
Hellish Blizzard wound her own arm around her back and walked gently forward, supporting her weight.
It seemed like an achingly painful trip to the sidewalk. But soon enough, they finally made it.
May let go of her and leaned against a pole for a second, catching her breath as the sound of cheering and whistling sounds around them, along with a few, "Go Hellish Blizzard!"
Hellish Blizzard quickly remembered the lady's walking stick, and turned, levitating it to her before it got run over. Thankfully the cars had paused long enough for them to complete their crossing.
"Here," She said, as she handed the wooden object to her.
"Oh thank you," replied the woman. Taking it from her and setting it against the ground, before standing up.
"Well, will you be alright now?" Hellish Blizzard asked.
"Yes, I should think so," the lady replied, smiling.
"Well, I guess I'd best be going now. It was nice meeting ya," Hellish Blizzard said, before moving to fly away.
"Oh, no you don't!" May protested, picking up her walking stick and using the curved end to latch around Hellish Blizzard's waist, pulling her back towards her.
Hellish Blizzard looked down at the walking stick hooked around her middle in shock. "Hey, no, no, no, I really do have to go," she protested, moving to pull away.
May just pulled her back again, while starting to move away slowly down the street.
"Nonsense, you're not going anywhere. I haven't thanked you yet! And any nice young soul who helps an old woman cross the street deserves thanking!" she spoke. "I'm sure my husband won't mind. In fact, knowing him, he's probably already got a pot of tea ready. Now come!" She gave her one last tug, and she was brought into step with her.
Hellish Blizzard grumbled. "Fine," she said, giving up, as she used her free arm to lead her forwards.
"It's not far, just around the corner," she said enthusiastically, as she led her around the bend, many bystanders staring at them as they passed, giving them funny looks.
Before long, they stopped in front of a small cottage-like house. It had a small porch out the front with steps leading up to the door, with a wooden white-posted banister leading around it. Plants in small pots decorated the porch, and the brown and white splash of paint covering the house gave the finishing touch.
May lightly nudged her in the back, and they started walking up the steps.
"Ben! I hope you boiled the kettle, as we have a visitor!" she yelled out happily as she opened the door, ushering Hellish Blizzard inside, before shutting it behind them.
Hellish Blizzard felt out of place in the neatly kept, white-walled interior of the house.
Feeling a bit like she didn't belong, he gazed at all the picture frames decorating the many shelves and cupboard tops dotted around. They were all of a younger couple, obviously the woman and her husband, many years ago. There were many pictures of them together, smiling happily, along with pictures of a boy very young and there were many of them, each one was like a time jump as the boy was now older. A whole family history held within just a few framed photos.
Hellish Blizzard moved forward, and carefully picked up a frame of a young girl and a brown dog with her hand, recognising it as the woman he'd just helped when she was a child.
"Ben, this is Hellish Blizzard," May's voice suddenly came from behind her, and he spun around, carefully putting the picture back down. "She helped me cross the street before," she finished.
"Oh! Hello there! Ben, Ben Parker. It's an honor to meet you," he said, moving forward and vigorously shaking Hellish Blizzard's hand in her, with a large grin on his face.
"Oh, well, it's nothing," Hellish Blizzard replied, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"No really, it is an honor! I can't believe you're in my house! Would you like some tea? I heard you helped my darling wife May here cross that dreaded street," he said, turning and disappearing down a hallway.
"W...well, it, it was nothing, always glad to help," Hellish Blizzard replied awkwardly, following them through the hallway and into a small kitchen, which had an old English style table sat to one side, with decorated china cups and saucers placed on it. Ben was just pouring some tea into the cups with a matching teapot.
"Here," he said, pushing a cup full of the steaming drink towards her.
Looking around a bit, and getting an encouraging nod and smile from May, Hellish Blizzard moved forward and sat in the chair in front of it.
Ben soon did the same, sitting down in the chair opposite her and beginning to happily drink her tea. "Would you like any sugar or milk in that?" he asked her.
"No, just milk thanks," Hellish Blizzard replied, and Ben quickly leaned forward to pour some milk in her cup.
Hellish Blizzard leaned forward hesitantly, picking her cup up from its saucer and glancing over at the vintage style clock on the wall.
She looked back at them both for a minute, making sure it was safe. Slowly, he brought the cup to her lips, and took a tentative sip. She let the concoction flood her mouth, before swallowing, the liquid warming her belly.
"Well, do you like it?" Ben suddenly asked, startling her slightly as she realized they'd both been watching her attentively. "It's a special brew," he informed me.
"Umm, yeah, it's not bad," she mumbled, pleasantly surprised by the taste.
"Here. Have a scone," May then said, placing a scone she must have got out of the fridge on a plate in front of her. "You must be tired after a long day of helping out others." she informed me.
"Oh, no really, I'm fine," Hellish Blizzard replied.
"I insist," she said.
Hellish Blizzard sighed, letting her head drop down. "Alright, alright," she said, before picking up the scone and taking a big bite out of it.
May chuckled proudly to herself and came to sit in a chair at the end of the table between the two, placing a tray of scones in the center, and began to drink her own tea.
"I noticed that you were interested in the family photos. They got your interest?"
"Yeah, they did. Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."
"Oh no, dear. That's perfectly fine. That's our nephew Peter. He was just a boy at that age, he recently became a college science professor."
"Oh that's really amazing." Fubuki replied while taking another sip of her tea.
"Yeah that's our Pete for you. Kid always had a knack for science since he was a young boy."
"And that's why we are so proud of him." May replied ever so sweetly, "Speaking of, Hellish Blizzard, we've recently noticed that you started helping out a lot of people during these past few days, practically a lot of cities are going on about that."
"Oh, well…I wanted to take a new approach with helping others. Mainly I started off forming a faction for… newbie crushing."
"What was the reason for this new approach?" Ben wondered.
"Spider-man is helping me become a better hero. I actually tried to crush him from moving up to Class-A but him, Mumen Rider, and Saitama Class-S rank 1 showed me that there was more to being a hero that doesn't need to rely on ranks or popularity." Fubuki replied as he looked at her tea cup.
"That is very good actually. Remember this Hellish Blizzard, just because you could beat up rookie heroes didn't give you the right to, remember, with great power,"
Fubuki raised her head in realization with her eyes slightly widening, "comes great responsibility. Spider-man taught me that. He doesn't deserve the hate he gets, truth is, he's such an amazing man with a heart of gold. Knowing what he had to go through in his past, he still does what's right. That's what I admire about him. I admire everything about him, and I won't let a single negative opinion from anyone get to me."
Ben could only smile when she finished that quote and showed her feelings about how much she likes Spider-man, she had learned from her past mistakes.
May could do the same thing as she placed a comforting hand on Fubuki's, "You actually made a brave move with helping out that man with the bomb, and we are proud of you. The people know heroes when they see them. Too few characters like that flying around like that, saving old girls like me. Lord knows that people need more heroes like you, Mumen Rider, and Spider-man. Courageous self sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero, cheering for them, screaming their names, and years later they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them to hold on a second longer. I believe there is a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride. Even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most, even our dreams."
Fubuki was in awe of May and Ben's words of wisdom, it honestly felt good to be moved by words such as theirs, it felt like she was hearing Spider-man all over again to the point where she could put out a smile.
A lot of chatting and a couple of scones later, Hellish Blizzard stood at the doorway of the comfy little home with a happy heart and a full belly. Who knew elderly people were so good to talk to? With all their stories from lives well lived, and tales of mischief and jokes from their younger days, Hellish Blizzard felt well and truly enlightened by the experience.
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Hellish Blizzard. I'm glad there's still hope amongst the young world today," May said, while grabbing her in a big hug, squeezing her to death. She'd become rather fond of the esper during her time there, and didn't quite want to let her go.
"Yeah, thanks," Hellish Blizzard croaked, before she finally let her go, and she gasped for breath.
"Now, don't forget to drop in," she said. "And I'll always leave some scones out on the window-sill at night for you if you get hungry," she informed, mothering her.
"Umm..." Hellish Blizzard said.
Ben chuckled. "Don't mind her, she can scare anyone away with her cane, but it was nice to meet you, Hellish Blizzard," he said, nodding his head.
"You too," Hellish Blizzard replied, nodding back. "Well, I've got to go but, thanks for the tea and scones, I just might pop in again someday. But I've really gotta run!" She said, before a blue aura surrounded her as she flew off.
"He, he, she's a funny one. Now, what shall we watch on TV tonight? There's that interesting show on... No, no we are not watching that sports thing again," could be heard, as May and Ben disappeared into their house, and closed the door behind them.