Work Text:
A cold breeze hit her slightly damp face as she sat on the edge of an apartment building, a half eaten pizza slice in hand, the other holding her white mask. She was admiring the dazzling view in front of her, legs dangling several hundred feet over the ground. New York City. The city of endless opportunities. She loved it wholeheartedly, she loved its citizens and she loved swinging through the busy streets of Midtown while chasing a car. She swore to protect this city with her life. Haneul loved being Spider-Girl.
She let out a puff after taking another bite of her favorite hot Pepperoni Pizza. It was a rather quiet Tuesday night. Haneul only had a few casual cases; preventing a car theft, helping an elderly lady with her terrifying Chihuahua from getting robbed and the classic gangster trying to break open an ATM. The same old as always.
Haneul was about to take another bite of her pizza when she felt the vibrations of her phone in her suit pocket. Her phone screen lit up with the notification of the FNSG App, short for Friendly Neighbourhood Spider Girl, designed, programmed and created by none other than Kim Natty. Her genius best friend to whom she more often than not owed her life to. Seriously though, Haneul would’ve died countless times if it wasn’t for her best friend. The Korean is truly thankful for her.
She clicked on the notification which brought her to the general forum where people all over NYC could submit a crime happening in their surroundings or just asking for help from Spider-Girl. She had to chuckle when she saw the username of the latest entry. @I_love_RotiSaiMai2310. She truly loved New York. She read through the message that was posted only a few minutes ago.
@I_love_RotiSaiMai2310 :
Hey my name’s Minnie and I was taking a walk through Central Park when I came across the MoMA and saw some suspicious looking people lingering around. Maybe it’s nothing but I thought a look won’t hurt. I’m now walking home to safety. Good luck Spidey and thank you in advance!
Haneul immediately dialed Natty’s number, the latter responding in a flash. She was greeted with the ever so loud and squeaky voice of the Thai.
“Yah! I swear to god Won Haneul if you’re about to tell me that you destroyed my baby I’m gonna kill you. Do you know how many sleepless nights I spent making and perfecting Spider-Bot ?!”
“Calm down, your Baby doesn’t have a single scratch.” Haneul rolled her eyes at her best friend's exaggerated antics. Nerd.
“Anyways, that’s not why I called. Did you see the latest FNSG entry? It’s weird isn’t it?”
Haneul could hear the faint clicking of a keyboard in the background before Natty spoke up again.
“Hm yeah this is not the only sighting of people in the middle of the night at the museum. There have been other submissions these past few days too. So…what are you thinking? “
“We’re either dealing with some teenagers committing vandalism or something worse.”
A beat passed before an idea popped into Haneul’s head.
“Can you hack into the security system of the museum and check if the cameras or alarms picked anything up?”
“Child’s play.”
Natty and her enormous ego. Haneul hoped the girl could hear her eyes roll through the phone. A second later Haneul’s screen showed the camera footage of the museum from the past few days as well as tonight.
“Nothing.” Weird.
The Korean hummed in thought. This was way too suspicious to ignore. She took a quick bite of her cold pizza slice before voicing out her plan.
“I’ll take a look and keep you updated. Can you check if there’s a way in?”
“Already done. West wing of the building. The ventilation system. On the far left of the wall you’ll see the grid.”
Sometimes she was convinced that Natty could read her mind. No seriously, how does she do it every time?
“Thanks bro.”
“You owe me three months worth of take out.”
At this rate Haneul’s eyes were about to pop out of their sockets with the amount of times that she’s rolled her eyes in the past minutes. Her thumb was hovering over the “End call” button before Natty’’s voice stopped her in her process. Worry. That’s what Haneul heard in her voice.
“Wait Bobsky.”
“Yeah?”
“Good luck and be careful out there. Something is definitely wrong about this.”
“Thank you Tty. I will.”
-
“Wooooooohooooooo”
Haneul catapulted herself high into the air, her vision of the New York City Lights turning blurry the moment her body started to drop with dizzying speed to the ground.
Nothing could ever top this feeling. This was pure freedom. Hearing the night’s cold wind rushing past her ears, the adrenaline spikes right before reaching the ground, latching onto another building only to free fall right into the deep again. This was one of many things that Haneul loved about being Spider-Girl.
She rounded the corner of an apartment building, showing off the newest acrobatic skills she learned. She’s figuring this swinging thing out pretty well. Even though Natty had to definitely stitch Haneul up whenever she failed something new and came back to their shared apartment with a bruised and cut up body. Not a very fun thing to experience.
Haneul could feel the suit’s sleek white and purple fabric stretching all over her arms when she swung into the next street. She’s very proud of this suit, designed and handcrafted by herself. Even though she went through hell and back to finalize the design, the finished product definitely makes her feel more like an actual hero.
She internally cringes when she thinks about her makeshift ‘hero’ costume that resembled more than anything of a hurried outfit thrown together with a random black mask and baggy clothes.
The Central Park was finally coming into view and Haneul silently swung herself through the trees. She dropped down on the museum’s rooftop, checking out the perimeter from her vantage point.
Weirdly enough, nobody was anywhere near the building. Everything was pretty much quiet, and Haneul didn’t like that one bit. She ran to the west wing of the building, spotting the grid Natty pointed out earlier. Swiftly she crawled her way to it, noticing the very narrow entrance. She sighed before she squeezed herself through the ventilation system.
Despite her mask, Haneul couldn’t stop herself from coughing and sneezing. They really ought to clean these vents out every once in a while. But then again, who would want to squeeze themselves through this voluntarily?
It was silent the moment Haneul slid out of the dusty and dirty vents into the open room of the museum. The dinosaur exhibit was very dimly lit by some lights, not a single person or soul anywhere near. She didn’t like this quiet. It made her shiver all over and the eerie atmosphere only made her miss her abandoned, probably already cold Pizza on that rooftop.
She opted on crawling around the ceiling rather than dropping to the ground right away. Better safe than sorry. Nothing suspicious could be found around the huge fossils. Not that anyone would want to steal a giant Triceratops skeleton. Thinking about it, it sounds rather cool having a dinosaur in your room as decoration. Maybe she should check out the souvenir shop and get someth-
Focus you idiot!
Haneul shook her head in embarrassment. She’s on a mission. She has to concentrate. She can think about dinos later. Natty’s annoying voice is already echoing in her head mockingly, calling her a nerd.
The Korean finally decided to leave the dino exhibit behind, sneakily crawling her way over to the renaissance pictorials. Those would make a much better loot.
She was surprised when she saw the body of the security guard lying unconsciously on the floor, his flashlight shining haphazardly into the room. Haneul didn’t waste a second and rushed over to the man, checking his vital status and sighing in relief when she could still feel his heartbeat. She carefully picked the man up and brought him over to a nearby bench. Quickly, she pulled out her phone and sent off a text to Natty, asking her to send over an ER for the poor guard. He had no marks or scratches, so he was probably taken out silently and precisely. An expert was at work here that was for sure.
After making sure that the guard was safe and sound, Haneul made her way through the exhibit very cautiously. Something was definitely off in this place and she could feel it all over her body as her Spidey senses were already tingling in anticipation of the danger.
The place looked as good as new, all the very expensive art pieces were still where they were supposed to be, nothing seemed amiss. At this point Haneul was starting to believe that there was a ghost haunting this place.
A sound made her sharply turn to the left. Her senses were guiding her towards a huge glass box and a single painting hung on a wall in the middle of it. She felt goosebumps rise all over her body the closer she got that particular structure.
Haneul was now facing that peculiar pictorial. Something about it tugged at her like a magnet, something she couldn’t really explain. The glass wall seemed so thick, it was possibly impenetrable even to bullets. The picture looked like any other renaissance painting in the exhibit, nothing explicitly special about it and still Haneul couldn’t keep her eyes off of it.
Suddenly, she sensed the glass box’s ceiling crack and crumble. Haneul immediately took a defensive stance, her hands flexing in anticipation.
Right above the painting, a circular block of cement fell down, causing a small dust cloud to obscure the inside of the glass prison. If it weren’t for Haneul’s superhuman senses, she would’ve missed the incredibly fast moving body that dropped down silently from that hole.
“Well, Well, Well. Look who decided to show up.”
That voice …Haneul could recognize it anywhere.
“What the…?"
“Hi Spidey, missed me?”
There she stood. Haneul couldn’t believe this. It had been years since she last saw her.
“Black Cat?!”, Haneul said in disbelief.
“Aw, are we back on our made-up name basis? What a shame. Even after all we’ve done together. I must say I’m a little disappointed Spider-Girl.”
On the other side of the glass wall stood the person Haneul thought she would never see again in her life. But then again, Belle was hardly predictable in any of her actions.
“Why are you here?” The Korean squinted her eyes under her mask. What could’ve possibly led Black Cat to come here to the museum, let alone back to New York at all?
The blonde thief scoffed in annoyance, brushing her high ponytail from her shoulder. She still wore the black body suit that Haneul helped to redesign, when they were still… a thing . It fit her perfectly even now.
“I expected a little more friendliness from someone I shared intimate moments with.”
“Belle, I’m serious. What are you doing here?”
“Ah you do remember my name. What a relief.”
Belle turned her back to Haneul, curiously eyeing the pictorial infront of her before she decided to move it off the wall. In a quick movement she snapped the picture in half with her knee. A smile of satisfaction appeared on her face when she heard Haneul gasp behind her.
“Are you crazy?! That thing is probably worth more than our lives!”
The thief pulled something out from the frame. A…USB Drive? What?
“Don’t be so sure Spider. This is three times worth this garbage.”
As if to emphasize, she threw the broken painting to the side, stashing the drive away safely.
“What’s on that drive Belle?”
Said girl finally turned back towards Haneul, a playful smirk on her red tinted lips. Haneul gulped.
“Oh wouldn’t you like to know~”, Belle said while slowly approaching the thick glass wall and letting her clawed finger trace along, leaving a scratch in her wake.
Haneul followed the movement, her whole body still tensed up in a defensive stance. Even though Belle wouldn’t hurt her, she still wasn’t going to relax easily. Not after seeing her very ex steal a suspicious drive.
“Still having some trust issues, huh?” The thief chuckled lightly, stopping her hand and instead crossing her arms over her chest. She still knew Haneul like the back of her hand, damn it.
“Are you going to tell me what’s on that drive?” Haneul was getting impatient. And slightly annoyed.
“I guess we’ll have to play a silly old round of Catch again if you want me to tell you.”
That dangerous smile of hers was plastered on Belle’s face as she was starting to back up towards the hole.
“Well it was nice seeing you again, Spider, I’m sorry to cut this reunion short, but I got important things to do.”
The thief jumped up with impressive strength, disappearing in a flash.
“No, wait! For fuck’s sake, Belle!”
-
If you were to tell Haneul that her night would consist of her chasing her ex that she hasn’t seen in years, all over New York, she would’ve laughed in your face. She doubted that Natty would even believe her once she told her about this.
Haneul’s arms burned painfully as she swung herself yet again into the air. She was really starting to miss her pizza. Instead she was chasing down Black Cat, who was impressively fast, as she leaped from one building to another.
“Urgh, Belle, come on!” Haneul angrily huffed while she pushed herself off a rooftop railing. Belle was definitely trying to prevent the hero from getting any closer to her, if the smoke and shock bombs thrown her way were any indication. Where did she even have the space to store these?!
The thief didn’t even spare her a glance as she expertly dodged a web shot from Haneul.
“You’re starting to slack off, Spider!”
Belle slid under a pipe, swiftly getting up to her feet and leaping to the nearest building, but Haneul finally caught up to her. She shot another web at the thief, this time successfully latching onto Belle’s leg mid air. Forcefully, Haneul yanked at the web, pulling Belle away from the next building’s ledge.
However, Haneul miscalculated the strength she used and the thief slipped backwards, falling into the deep, desperately trying to find something to hold onto.
“Shit!”
As if possessed, Haneul web-pulled herself towards Belle, grabbing the latter’s hand just on time, while simultaneously getting a hold of the ledge with her other hand. The pull on her arm caused her to grunt painfully. Yeah she was definitely not looking forward to the muscle sores after.
Haneul sighed in relief. This could’ve definitely gone wrong and she wasn’t trying to hurt Belle at all. She just wanted to know what’s on that drive. And maybe also find out what Belle was doing here.
“Thanks for the save, my hero~”
Haneul startled at the seducing honey voice sounding right next to her masked ear. In all her thinking Haneul didn’t register Belle climbing up to the building again. She scrambled after the thief, trying to push away the pain in her arms and pulling herself up the ledge.
Just before Belle could slip through her fingers again, Haneul ran towards her, grabbing her arm.
“Can you just wait a second!”
To Haneul’s surprise, Belle actually listened, although she looked about as ready to flee the moment the hero would let go of her arm. Some progress.
“Thank you. Now can you please tell m-”
Rather than letting Haneul finish her sentence, Belle opted to kick her in the face instead. Lovely.
Haneul dodged it barely, letting go of her arm in the process. She didn’t expect Belle to follow up with a punch to her gut. And she definitely didn’t have enough time to dodge that one so she fell to her knees with a grunt.
“Are we really about to do this?” Haneul coughed out while grabbing her stomach in pain. Did she want to engage in a fight with Belle? No. Was it better than endlessly running after her? Perhaps.
“You’re going soft babe.” Oh that pissed her off.
Haneul got up and scoffed in defiance. Belle smirked at the hero and took up a fighting stance. She really knew how to push Haneul’s buttons.
She could handle a bit of sparring, even if her body was screaming at her not to. This was definitely not her first rodeo with Belle and by the way things were looking this one won’t be the last either.
“I’m not trying to hurt you Belle, I just need to know what’s on that dr-”
Haneul was greeted by a straight punch to her face, which she thankfully dodged, seizing the opportunity to sweep Belle off the floor with her leg.
Belle gracefully caught herself against the rooftop floor, pushing herself up again. Haneul was holding back and Belle knew as much. So she opted to have some fun with it.
She feinted a kick to Haneul’s face again, only to take advantage of her trying to block the non existent kick. Completely to Haneul’s surprise, Belle reached for an arm, pulling Haneul towards her only to make her stumble over her own legs and to the floor with a painful thud.
Haneul groaned as she turned to her back. She was about to stand up again but suddenly she felt a weight on her.
Belle’s knees dug painfully into Haneul’s arms, effectively keeping her from moving under the thief’s body. Belle’s still extraordinary at hand-to-hand combat, she’ll give her that. That didn’t make it any less frustrating to be pinned down on a random rooftop in downtown New York by your ex that you haven’t seen in years.
Belle playfully traced the spider emblem on Haneul’s chest with her claws. A knowing smirk made its way to her lips.
“I’d thought you’d be able to keep up with me by now, babe.” The thief purred, her claws ever so slightly digging into the fabric.
Haneul attempted to wiggle out of her predicament, but she immediately stopped when she felt claws lightly puncturing her skin. She couldn’t help but hiss.
Belle clicked her tongue.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Haneul very audibly gulped.
“Good.”
The skin stung slightly when Belle pulled her fingers away.
“You know, I really did miss you while I was gone.” The thief started to trace Haneul’s masked face leisurely.
“Where were you?” Even after so long, Haneul still cared for the thief deep down. She didn’t want to admit it but she more often than not thought about Belle, their relationship and… everything that went wrong with it.
“I was everywhere. Travelling the world. Learning about new cultures. Stealing some artifacts here and there.”
Belle’s fingers reached Haneul’s neck. Her breath hitched in fear, but Haneul calmed down when she realized that Belle was only pulling her mask off.
“Relax Spider, I won’t hurt you.”
She rolled the mask up to Haneul’s nose. Belle chuckled when she saw goosebumps appear on the younger girl’s sweaty neck. To Haneul’s defense, it was quite cold tonight.
“You’re never going to quit stealing are you?” It felt like a slap to her face but Belle brushed it off. Haneul couldn’t understand.
Sharp claws started to trace the hollow of her throat, slowly inching up to her jaw until Belle reached Haneul’s lips. One claw very carefully drew over her cupid’s bow, before it moved to her lower lip.
Haneul was breathing shakily, her cheeks dusted a faint pink, that she hoped Belle wouldn’t notice. But by the small smirk on the thief’s face, she could tell that it was already too late.
“You still wear your heart on your sleeve, Spider.”
Haneul didn’t know what she expected to happen next, but certainly not this.
Belle’s lips tenderly kissed Haneul’s, leaving the latter breathless and eagerly kissing back, even though she was pretty much restricted in her movements.
Even after years, they fell back into a familiar rhythm, as if they were never separated to begin with. They shared chaste, slow kisses that said more than words could.
Belle playfully nipped at Haneul’s bottom lip, smilling when she heard a low whine come from the girl pinned under her.
To Haneul’s misery, the thief already started pulling back, but she didn’t fully leave, instead hotly murmuring against the younger’s lips.
“Catch you later, Spider.”
And in a flash, Belle lifted herself off of Haneul, leaping off the building and vanishing into the night. The hero was too dazed to even move a muscle, opting to just sigh out loudly. Her fingers traced her own lips, where only minutes ago Belle’s were sweetly pressed against hers. She let out a breathy laugh when she saw the lipstick taint her clothed fingertips.
After a few seconds, Haneul decided to get up. As if on cue, her phone started vibrating and Haneul didn’t need to think twice to know who called.
“Dude, where the fuck are you and why weren’t you answering your phone!”
“Tty you won’t believe what I’m about to tell you…”