Chapter 59 : Tempus fugit (Costume making/A spider catch a fly)

 

The Mirror Dimension, image of Manhattan, 7th of April, 14:07, in Cindy Moon’s mind

 

“So what exactly are we going to do today that only the two of us can do?” Cindy asked, still a bit confused when Aria had pulled her apart from her usual sparring with Gwen.

 

Cindy was a little bit frustrated because she was just starting to catch up with the other spider girl and had wanted to check on her progress.

 

Getting outplayed over and over again by someone who shares exactly the same yet better abilities than you had been grating. That had reeled up Cindy so much that she had even asked their host, Mr. Drumm, if he had any idea how she could increase the rate at which the magic did its job.

 

He had told her that he honestly had no idea, but meditation would be a good place where to start looking.

 

So, Cindy had thrown herself into it, trying to understand the mystical energies that powered Gwen and her better so as to channel them where she was lacking.

 

It had worked and she could feel herself thinking faster and getting stronger by the day.

 

Her competitiveness had been dialed up to eleven by her sudden breakthrough and it had been with high spirit that she had crossed the portal in the Thompson’s house basement today.

 

And now all of that was for naught.

 

“Well, it’s not exactly us two.” Aria answered with a little twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

 

“That would be you and me, to be exact.” Aria’s strange alien bond continued with her crystalline voice, perched atop her host’s shoulder like the world’s laziest cat.

 

Cindy’s mouth formed a little O of surprise as she blinked, taking in the situation at her now usual I’ve-all-the-time-in-the-world pace.

 

Aria’s facial expression showed amusement, but it seemed not to be at her expense.

 

Her eyes darted rapidly before landing on Iris and she could decipher a little bit of apprehension mixed with annoyance in the symbiote’s ‘facial’ expressions.

 

The alien lifeform creeped her out a little if she had to be totally honest.

 

It’s the teeth, they’re way too sharp for something that pretends to be that peaceful.

 

“Oh?” Cindy finally answered once the usual course of time and the words she had thought caught up with her mouth.

 

“Yes.” Aria confirmed with a little nod, her white curls following her every motions, “See, Iris has heard about the silk you managed to weave on your own, the super resistant one.”

 

Cindy slowly nodded as her mind was trying to catch up.

 

She had been so caught up in her desire to best Gwen at least once that she had tried a lot of things before finally throwing the towel and talk to Mr. Drumm. One of those things had been trying to use a stronger than usual spider silk to immobilize her.

 

It hadn’t worked but she had by accident created a version of her magical silk that wasn’t so easily destroyed and didn’t seem to degrade as time elapsed.

 

The magical construct was absurdly complex and taxing on her matrix, but Gwen and her had marveled at the potential for a future bullet-proof fabric. The thing was potentially stronger than kevlar by two landslides and a half.

 

If Gwen’s calculations had been right, Cindy hadn’t bothered trying to confirm them.

 

“You want to design some clothes with it?” Cindy asked, her hyperactive mind reaching the only logical conclusion why she was to be partnered with the fashion crazy symbiote.

 

“No mere clothes, no.” Iris corrected her with a little dismissive gesture, “But Gwen and yours costumes.”

 

Cindy’s mouth got rather slack at the admission.

 

“And how are we doing this?” She asked a little dizzyingly, her own excitement rising a little, “It’s not like you can leave Aria’s body or…?”

 

Superhero clothes!

 

That’s something I can get behind!

 

“I don’t need to.” Iris answered lazily, pointing a hand toward a shelf in the distance.

 

Cindy watched with trepidation as a book slowly flew into Iris’ waiting hand.

 

“The Klyntar can imprint more than their host memories and personality.” Aria helpfully supplied, “If they bond with a powered individual, they can also imprint their abilities after enough time has elapsed for their own magic to find a way to mimic them. It happened earlier this week.”

 

“That’s why you left school Tuesday morning.” Cindy realized aloud, her thoughts churning with the implied possibilities.

 

“Yes.” The golden girl admitted easily, “Imprinting my telepathic potential in the middle of the city would have been rough on Iris, so we took the day off.”

 

“Too many unsaid-voices at the same time.” Iris lamented, “So overwhelming.”

 

Yeah, I’m glad I’m not the one who has to deal with that.

 

“But she now also has access to your telekinesis.” Cindy deduced, eyeing the book as it started to fly back to its previous spot.

 

“Indeed and I thought it would be a good exercise for Iris’ minute control to participate in your outfits creation since they need to respect certain parameters.” Aria added, one of her hands lazily combing through Iris’ makeshift hair.

 

Iris frowned and poked her cheek sulkily.

 

“...And Iris would have probably been mad at me if I didn’t allow her to participate in the design.” Aria admitted while rolling her eyes.

 

Cindy watched the symbiote nod energetically with a bright expression.

 

She sniggered.

 

Iris and her hadn’t really started on the right foot in January and the dark haired girl was still a little defensive around the alien lifeform.

 

Yes, she was creepy to her human sensibilities but she couldn’t really be held responsible for it. Cindy had also been thrown off by her attitude toward her when they first met, when Iris had shown herself to be fiercely defensive on her host’s behalf with a kind of loyalty that Cindy couldn’t really understand herself.

 

Now, after months of regularly interacting with the golden girl and her sister from outer space, Cindy knew that there was also some kind of love at play there.

 

Not the kind she shared with her own family nor the kind of feelings she had toward her own boyfriend, but something that transcended that in a weird sort of way.

 

Ultimate and total codependence mixed with a very deep trust in each other due to the both of them sharing a body for two.

 

Cindy could wrap her head around the concept, sure, but understanding it deep down was something she suspected she would never be able to unless it happened to her.

 

She wasn’t really in a hurry for it to happen though.

 

The fact remained that Iris could apparently hold a grudge because the symbiote had been rather cold with her while she had warmed up to Gwen and Jessica easily after a few days.

 

That had saddened Cindy a bit almost as much as it relieved her.

 

Cindy hadn’t really been ready in her own mind to be subjected to more of Iris’ attention, Aria’s own being already plenty enough.

 

Yet it looked like it was fated to end today because clothes were now involved and Iris was apparently adamant to be included in their making.

 

“Alright,” Cindy answered with a smile as her time accelerated fugue ended, “What did you have in mind exactly?”

 

“Something like that.” The symbiote answered as a sheet of paper was regurgitated from her body.

 

Aria continuously referred to it as a pocket-space but Cindy’s mind kept telling her that the alien lifeform was regurgitating things from her stomach.

 

Cindy soldiered on nonetheless to hide her shudder at the thought.

 

Moments later, she caught on the paper sheet a little gingerly.

 

Cindy paused, her mind going over the outfit’s specs and design.

 

It was… Extremely thorough. With precise measurements and several additions that would necessitate the twin’s help if what she saw was right.

 

“Why the hood?” Cindy found herself wondering aloud quizzically, “There’s already a mask.”

 

“Cool factor.” The symbiote seriously answered.

 

Aria snorted as Cindy was thrown aback by the answer.

 

“...Okay.” She hesitantly said as she turned the page, parsing through the thorough description at an accelerated pace.

 

“We will have to ask for either Flash or your help at some point,” Cindy commented once she was done with a tilt of her chin toward Aria, “But that definitely looks promising.”

 

She hesitated for a beat, looking at Iris expectant look.

 

“I’m still not totally sold on a hood over a mask…” She started.

 

In her slow-motion world, she watched the symbiote tenses a bit, probably gearing herself for a retort.

 

Nah, not worth dying on that particular hill.

 

“...But I’m sure it will look great.” She ended up with a smile.

 

The symbiote smiles brightly with way too many teeth.

 

Cindy gulped.

 

That’s going to be a very long afternoon alright.

 

***

The Mirror Dimension, image of Manhattan, the same day, 14:07, in Gwendoly Stacy’s mind.

 

Gwen looked longingly in the direction where Aria had pulled Cindy apart from the group while distractingly listening to Jessica’s explanations on what the both of them were supposed to do.

 

Aria had already explained to her earlier in the week what she will be doing today, but it didn’t mean that she wasn’t a little sad that Cindy would be the one with whom she spends her time today.

 

Gwen was now regretting not focusing as much as the dark haired girl on growing the synchronization rate of her matrix.

 

She could have been the one whose discovery of an amplified hyper-resistant magical silk would have been the basis of Cindy and her outfits if she had.

 

Instead, she would have to spar with Jessica, Flash having seated their outing out in favor of working on the flying girl’s newest armor in his lab.

 

Gwen still had some difficulty wrapping her head around the fact that Flash Thompson, the original one, had now a fully kitted out engineering lab in his basement, complete with machines of his own making that were designed to help him.

 

She hadn’t missed the little feeling of danger she was now feeling each time she crossed through the lab’s threshold on her way toward the portal for the Sanctum Sanctorum either, indicating that the structure was probably designed to be collapsed if its owner ever needed it.

 

Gwen still regularly wondered if it had been his idea or Aria’s.

 

Since the both of them seemed to share an unusual amount of carefulness and paranoia, it could easily be either of the two.

 

“In short, you fly around and I try to stop you?” Gwen concluded after mentally parsing through what Jess’ had said.

 

“Yup.” The girl answered, snug in her battered metallic armor.

 

“Alright.” Gwen nodded, “When do we start?”

 

“Now!” Jessica exclaimed excitedly as she started to take off.

 

Gwen could have sworn that she had almost heard the grin in the flying girl’s voice as her feet left the pavement.

 

The blond immediately started to run toward her position.

 

The magic rushing through her body thrummed as she felt herself accelerate from her easy going starting position, the fabric of her jogging straining under the sudden and rough movements.

 

A fact that almost brought back some awkward memories from the first sport’s school after her change.

 

Almost.

 

No one ever talked about it and Gwen certainly never thought about it.

 

Gwen belatedly realized that Jess’ was fast, way faster than any human had any right to be while wearing that many pounds of metal anyway, and was starting to create some distance between the two of them by virtue of her speed in combination with her flight.

 

Deciding to take the training a little more seriously, Gwen jumped on top of a car while throwing a few webbings in the flyer's estimated path.

 

She watched in her world of slow motion Jessica evade her shots with almost casual ease, bobbing and weaving her flight around them.

 

Aria trained her to evade ranged attacks, that’s why she’s flying backward.

 

Not a bad move since she has total control over her direction in three different dimensions anyway.

 

Chaining two more jumps while still throwing webbings, Gwen cleared the car’s roof in favor of a lighting post then the facade of the nearest building, landing perpendicularly on it to continue to run.

 

While taxing on her capacities, as long as she stayed in movement it was a way better means of locomotion than just crawling along.

 

Going diagonally upward, Gwen kept firing her silk at the flying girl in an attempt to slow her down.

 

It worked, after a fashion.

 

Jessica’s progress had diminished, yes, but she was still gaining ground on her.

 

There’s something that is slowing her down, but it sure as hell isn’t me.

 

Gwen’s eyes narrowed as she started to weave more complex patterns after deducing a few more habits in the flying girl’s pattern, still running toward the top of her own building.

 

A few little balls of silk, traveling faster than mere lines of webbing, flew out of her outstretched hands.

 

Jessica narrowly dodged the first one, but none of the others seemed to pose her any difficulty.

 

Alright, what was different?

 

Having reached the end of her running surface and noticing that Jessica was angled in the opposite direction, Gwen threw herself off it, extending a hand toward the nearest rooftop in the flying girl’s direction.

 

Silk flew as she started to fall, her body already angled in the right direction to profit from her momentum as soon as the line went taut.

 

The center mass shots were no good, she just zig-zagged between them; the head wasn’t better since she duked; hands and upper torso were moot too; only the legs looked like a troubling spot for her.

 

Why?

 

The line suddenly went taut and Gwen snapped both of her legs upward and slightly at an angle, directing her course in collision toward the flying girl.

 

Maybe the armor’s weight is harder on the legs?

 

Letting go of her silk line, Gwen fired a few more shots toward Jessica, provoking a few more evasive maneuvers.

 

Absent-mindedly weaving the next silk line she needed, Gwen continued to think.

 

No, the armor seems balanced, which means the weight is equal everywhere.

 

Something is giving me the illusion that her legs move more slowly than the rest of her body though.

 

Was it the same earlier?

 

As the second line went taut and Gwen started to swing on it, she had an illumination while parsing the start of the encounter.

 

It wasn’t!

 

The higher she flies, the lower her center of gravity drops! That’s why she’s struggling with reaching greater heights and needs to train like a madwoman with hundreds of pounds of steel and lead strapped to her!

 

If so…

 

Letting go of her silk line once more, Gwen immediately weaved one in direct contact toward the ground at the apex of her swing.

 

Magic churning at the tip of the fingers of her other hands, it took her almost a second while freefalling from above the flying girl to cast the widest net she could.

 

As the net left her outstretched hand, she yanked her silk line, accelerating her own falling motion as the flying figure started to drop diagonally in the opposite direction to create as much distance between the menaces of the net and Gwen herself.

 

Gwen weaved another line in the direction of the girl’s legs.

 

Being so focused as she was on the net, Jessica only made a token resistance to evade the silk line.

 

Sadly for her, Gwen already had her flying patterns down by now and the line aimed at the sluggish legs went taut.

 

The blond yanked herself toward the flying girl, halting Jessica’s flight in passing with the strength of her pull.

 

Immobilize the limbs, capture the target.

 

Repeating herself the mantra Aria had hammered to Cindy and her when she had shown them the martial art she had designed for them, Gwen directed another silk line toward a nearby facade while still not letting go of the one connected to Jessica.

 

Staying as cool as possible with a spider-totemite hot on her heels, Jessica started to fly upward once more as she cleared the net’s perimeter.

 

Gwen eyed the rapidly approaching net critically.

 

She wants to trap me with it.

 

Snapping one of her fangs, she momentarily let go of the silk stuck to Jessica before swiftly slashing upward.

 

It took her barely three tenths of a second to free herself from her predicament, enough time to snap the fang back and regrab the very light silk before it got too far to be picked up again.

 

The line stuck to a building went taut, giving Gwen the opportunity for another skydive once she reached the apex of her jump.

 

She had calculated the necessary length to allow her to reel Jessica once more once she reached it after all.

 

The flying girl was still trying to flee, occasionally kicking the piece of silk stuck to her leg to no avail, when Gwen finally reached her goal.

 

Her second yanking motion, coming from directly above the armor clad girl, had the expected effect.

 

Jessica was pulled upside down, slurring all the while toward the blond that had played one of her greatest weaknesses like a maestro.

 

By the time she had started to correct her flying posture, her brain probably rattled by the unexpected assault from above, Jessica was tied up while still in the air, multiple strands of silk tying her to the nearest buildings.

 

Gwen rappelled while upside down from above to face her sparring partner.

 

“Come on!” Jessica whined, her voice muffled both by her helmet and Gwen’s silk, “How did you catch me so fast?”

 

“Your legs betrayed you.” Gwen answered, “You had difficulties raising them as you moved upward, it clued me in that your center of gravity is constantly trying to pull you down by dropping lower and lower as you fly higher.”

 

Jess’ remained silent for a beat.

 

Gwen chuckled a little, almost certain the girl was sulking behind her visor.

 

“It took Aria days to figure that out!” Jessica finally exclaimed.

 

“To be fair, she doesn't see vectors as I do.” Gwen answered amusingly.

 

“Your power is such a cheat.” Jessica sulked.

 

“Say the flying tank.” Gwen answered while rolling her eyes, “Alright, let me untie you and we go again.”

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