When the day finally ended, Luz just shot a text to Vee that she would be walking home.
In reality? She just needed a moment to herself. She couldn't deny it anymore. Something happened to her.
"W-what is wrong with me...?" Luz breathed as she ran into the alleyway. "T-that spider bite did something to me! But how? Spider bites don't make you strong or sticky or really athletic!!! It goes against all logic! It's almost as if that thing was magic or-"
Then, she stopped and thought about it.
Magic.
When she was little, she had always believed that magic was somehow real. It was what helped inspire her love of everything fantastical.
But as she grew older, she accepted that magic wasn't real despite how cool it would be to have it...but now...now, she really didn't have any other explanation.
"...was the spider magic? Or...or was it radioactive and mutated me?" Luz asked. "No, if it was radioactive, I would be dead. It has to be magic...right?"
She then took a deep breath. Many deep breaths, even. "Okay...I have to tell someone...nope, bad idea. I've watched enough TV to know that the person who has powers will get taken away by the government! Or...maybe that's just me being paranoid."
Luz then put her back against the wall, still trying to think. "M...maybe I can hide it? First I have to know what to even hide..."
She then placed her hand against the wall...and it got stuck. She sighed and was about to start pulling until she got an idea. She looked up at the building the wall was apart of and then slowly set her other hand on the wall.
Luz then lifted her fist hand and placed it farther up the wall. It stuck. She did the same with the second and it continued to stick to the brick wall.
Then, very slowly, she put her feet against the wall too and despite her shoes, they...stuck.
Luz looked down and saw that she was now completely off the ground. Her hazel brown eyes widened before she quickly looked up again and placed one of her hands farther up the wall.
She was climbing the wall. Without a ladder. Only her hands and feet.
Eventually, she made it to the very top and climbed up onto it. Luz's eyes were still wide as she looked down...and then?
She began to laugh. "I...I climbed a wall!!! I-I'm a human spider!!! I HAVE POWERS, BABY!!!" She cried as she made a 'rock out' gesture with her hands...and suddenly?
Golden circles suddenly formed around her wrists, almost like rings with weird writing across them that wasn't English or even Spanish. But the moment the rings formed around...golden webs shot right out of them and into the air.
Luz's eyes widened and she saw the golden rings disappear. "Webs...? Oh, duh! Spiders make webs! But...how did I get them to appear?"
She then tried the exact same thing and golden webs shot out again. She kept her hands in the same gesture and looked over them. She then lowered one hand and shot out the other, firing another golden web.
Luz's eyes were wide and she began to squeal as she started firing webs all across the building she was on like a gun firing bullets.
"Pew! Pew! Pew!" She exclaimed before she eventually stopped. "Man! That's fun!!! This is awesome!!!"
She then gasped. "Wait...secret powers from some kind of accident...does that mean I'm a superhero or some-"
But then, the rings returned around her wrist...but they were different. There were four rings now, two of them on each wrist. But now, they weren't even rings. They looked more like strange symbols. They were gold, blue, orange, and green.
Suddenly, the symbols started to glow and Luz suddenly felt her face was covered by something. A mask.
She then looked at herself. Instead of her normal clothes, she was now wearing some kind of suit.
It was white with black legs and sleeves. Her arms had golden webbing right below her shoulders and there was a gigantic black spider symbol right on her chest. Finally, she had a navy blue cape and hood.
Luz's eyes were wide and she took a look at the mask, which was also white alongside yellow eyes with blue around them. She was silent for a moment...before squealing again. "I HAVE A MAGIC COSTUME!!!"
She then fiddled with her cape. "I love the cape!!! Oh, I gotta do a superhero pose! Just let me think of one!" She exclaimed as if someone was right beside her witnessing this.
Luz then put her mask on and struck a pose. She then stopped, laughing. "Am...am I actually some kind of superhero or am I dreaming?!"
She then pinched herself and the costume didn't fade nor did she wake up in a hospital. "Okay! Not in a coma! THIS IS REAL."
Luz then looked at the edge of the building. "Muscles, agility, head alarm, webs, climbing...what else can I do?"
She then walked over to the edge and then looked ahead to the city. A crane was nearby. Luz then looked back down and quickly backed up as a result.
"Okay, don't be that insane." Luz said to herself, taking a deep breath...but she didn't completely walk away. For some reason, she...she felt like she could do anything. Reason as a whole was almost starting to fade.
There was nothing logical about magic after all.
Luz then took a step forward again and slowly lifted her hand and shot a web towards the crane...and it stuck. She now had a large rope made of the golden web.
To test its strength, Luz pulled and even bent at it. It didn't break, likely due to being magic.
Luz took another deep breath and held on to the web. She then looked down, her mind already bringing up all kinds of terrifying scenarios of the result of her jumping and depending solely on this web to keep her safe.
She closed her eyes for a moment...and then?
She leapt right off the edge and started swinging through the air. She kept swinging until she landed on another building, sticking to its walls.
Luz's eyes were wide at that before she quickly began climbing to the top of the current building she was on.
"...WOOHOO!!!" Luz cried out as she ran right off the edge of that building as well, firing a web and swinging across the air.
Running off of pure adrenaline and a supposed lack of fear, she fired another web and swung onto that one instead. She landed on another wall, but she just fired another web and swung right off it and onto another.
Luz started swinging without even landing on a wall. Fear was fading by the second and being replaced with excitement.
She eventually swung herself high into the air, getting a fantastic view of the city. She then shot a web and swung herself onto a rooftop.
Luz then pulled off her mask, breathing heavily with possibly the largest smile she could muster. She then put her mask back on once again and leapt off into the air again.
Her parents and sister could wait a little.
Hours passed before Luz eventually made it home, having figured out how to turn off her costume. Like every great superhero, she couldn't tell anyone.
Luz then went through the door...but then her eyes widened when she saw her father in the living room, actually waiting for her.
"...hola, Papa?" Luz asked with a nervous smile.
Manny's eyes narrowed before he sighed. "Where have you been?"
"I-I wanted to walk home...lost track of time." Luz said as she closed the door behind her. "D-didn't Vee tell you?"
"She did...she also said that you got into a fight." Manny said. "I didn't believe it, but then your mother and I got a call from the school confirming it, but even they didn't sound convinced. They know you're a good kid."
Luz's eyes widened and she quickly set her backpack down. "They thought that was a fight?! Boscha was the one trying to hit me-"
"Luz. Sit down." Manny said.
Luz was about to speak, but nodded and sat across from her father.
"Okay...now tell me what happened." Manny said.
Luz sighed. "Well...lunch had just ended and I was going to my locker. But then, Boscha showed up and tried to hit me or shove me. She saw me talking to Amity during lunch and demanded that I stayed away from her."
"And Boscha's the bully. You've told me about her." Manny said with a nod.
Luz nodded before she continued. "I told her that Amity wasn't her property and then, after I dodged her trying to shove me, a bunch of kids noticed us and thought we were fighting. Then, Amity came out and told Boscha to back off...she didn't. She actually tried punching me, but I dodged again."
She then looked at her dad. "All I did was dodge...even if I really wanted to fight. Boscha's such a jerk! She treats Amity like property and treats Willow and a bunch of other kids like garbage!"
"Luz." Manny said, looking at his daughter with soft eyes. "I know that part...and believe me, I've tried reporting it, but Boscha's parents don't seem to believe it. You know how they are."
Luz sighed. "And Boscha was always good at hiding it until now..."
Manny nodded. "And is that the reason you didn't come home on the bus? You needed time to think after that fight?"
"I-I wouldn't say it was a fight, but yeah." Luz said.
Manny then chuckled a bit. "Okay. One-sided fight...but...while I'm not happy that you stayed out so late, you're 17. You can make your own choices and you're going to graduate soon...it just would've been nice to know ahead of time that you would be late."
Luz rubbed the back of her neck. "Papá, lo siento."
Manny nodded...but then smiled. "But...I am proud of you."
"Huh?" Luz asked. "For...for what?"
Manny chuckled. "Luz, in life, you are going to find yourself in a position of power. But power is not a privilege, it's a gift. And you should use that gift to do the right thing. When you have great power, there comes great responsibility."
Luz's eyes widened a bit at that, before they softened. She then scratched her head. "What does that have to do with you being proud of me for a one-sided fight?"
"Luz, you had the power to fight back. You had the power to break her nose. Let your anger get the best of you." Manny said. "And that happens to the best of us. Emotions are a strong thing...but, you didn't fight back. You didn't hit and instead just tried to stand up for your friend. In a way, you had the advantage in that fight and you used it for something good."
Luz smiled. "I...guess I did. So, you're not mad?"
"No. And your mom's not either. Just worried." Manny said. "Don't keep doing this rebellious teen thing, okay?"
Luz giggled and then hugged her father. "I'm too much of a nerd for that."
Manny smiled and hugged back. "That's my girl."