Miles Morales: New Spider Chapter 12

---

I've been working on my Spider suit since before I even got my powers. After months of hard work and an extensive amount of graphene—some of it painstakingly remade from pencil graphite when I ran out—I finally completed it a week ago.

The graphite was essential because it could be transformed into graphene, a material I needed to create a multilayered structure. These layers were used to lace the spandex of my costume, imbuing it with remarkable properties. Graphene made the suit incredibly durable, resistant to both water and heat. Considering graphene's melting point of 4510K, it's practically invincible in extreme conditions.

Besides its durability, graphene is an exceptional electrical conductor, even surpassing copper. This property would be useful for integrating onboard circuits into the suit while keeping them flexible. The thermal conductivity of graphene would help distribute my body heat evenly throughout the costume, keeping me warm. By using graphene’s properties, the suit can expand or contract with electrical charges, allowing it to fit any size. This adaptability means the suit can accommodate my growth if I get larger or taller and can also be easily hidden and carried around.

The suit’s electrical conductivity also enhances my venom strike, making it even more effective.

The suit itself is all black, thanks to a coating of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes that absorb 99% of radiation in the visible spectrum—also known as Vantablack. This material has thermal, UV, and visible (in the dark) camouflage properties. When I activate my camo mode, Vantablack will give me true stealth, perfect for striking fear into my enemies. Batman would be proud.

Unless someone has radiation viewers capable of detecting non-visible spectrums, no one will see me coming, especially at night or in camo mode.

The design of the suit is based on the classic Miles Morales look, with a red spider emblem on the chest and back. The spider on the back has fangs that extend over the shoulders and connect on the lower chest beneath the front spider. Red web patterns spread from the head down to the fang-enclosed areas, with red highlights over the eyes. I added a thin silver outline around the spiders, which complements the red. When activated, the spider and webs light up with a red and silver tint.

The spider emblem on the chest houses most of the suit's control units and processors. The power source is a flat graphite battery pack located within the red spider on the back. This battery is coated in red nano, highly efficient flexible graphene solar panels. It only takes a few minutes to fully charge, providing up to 12 hours of usage.

While this might seem impressive, it's just decent compared to normal Marvel tech.

The suit includes a low-profile utility belt with various compartments. It holds smoke pellets that release a thick cloud after exploding, microbot drones with audio-visual capabilities for tracking, scouting, and monitoring, electrostatic explosive pellets that stick to surfaces before detonating, and spider shuriken (because, well, Batman). Instead of leaving notes, I’ll leave my shuriken at the scene, marking my presence. There are also web cartridges made from goldline graphene super webs, expanding/exploding webs, lethal web razor wire, and a hack-it-all USB stick that interfaces with my mask.

My mask features micro image projectors in the eyes, enabling a heads-up display with mapping functions connected wirelessly to the microbots. It’s also linked to the suit’s microprocessors, turning the mask into a screen for the microcomputer on my chest piece. Beneath the mask is a half-face mask, because I’ve seen Spider-Man lose his mask too many times. I don’t want that to happen to me. The half-mask comes equipped with a voice modulator, earpiece, and air filter made using graphene layers.

Underneath the suit is a protective web chest piece, and on the hands, I’ve included slim web-made knuckle gloves with black circles around the red fingers and retractable hidden blades on the knuckles.

Yes, blades. I’m not afraid to use lethal force. This isn’t DC with its hypocritical "no kill rule." This is the Marvel Universe. Killing mindlessly is wrong, but here, people will die—heroes or villains. If it comes down to it, I will use lethal force to survive.

Back to the suit: I couldn’t add more protective gear without compromising its functionality, making it less streamlined and harder to conceal.

Where did I get the cash for all this? Robotics competitions. I won cash prizes and equipment, and then there was my invention—a simple water filter made from graphene. I was able to restructure the graphene layer to create a filter that could even remove salt molecules from water. When damaged or about to expire, the filter would clog, preventing any liquid from passing through. I patented and licensed it to companies at affordable prices. Most of the money went to orphanages. After the Harlem terror, many kids became orphans, and I remember seeing them cry as they clutched the cold bodies of their parents.

I also made the patents freely available to Third World countries, where clean, drinkable water was desperately needed.

My parents were proud, and the money made our lives a little more comfortable.

You might think this is overkill, but if I had my way, I would’ve added even more gear. You can never be too prepared in Marvel. Dreams become reality, but so do nightmares.

The lesson I’ve learned from various situations is that technology is only as good as your ability to bring it with you. The more complex it is, the easier it gets disabled. No plan survives contact with the enemy, so always have a backup for your backup, and a flexible escape plan.

If I’m going to be a "hero," I need to do it smartly. People need to recognize my mark and my actions. Helping people is essential, but so is building a public image. It’s a give-and-take relationship.

It’s been a month since I started attending BVA. The place is decent, but it’s not the perfect utopia from the comics. There are disappointing aspects, like the occasional subtle racism or the arrogant, know-it-all teachers. But this is real life, and nothing’s perfect.

BVA is a boarding school, so I only get to visit my parents on weekends. I share a room with Ganke. The room is modestly furnished with a closet, bookshelf, nightstands, a large desk with drawers and study lights, some chairs, and a bunk bed. Ganke put up posters of Lego constructions on the walls, and I brought a flower pot for the windowsill. The room was painted a cool blue, giving it a calm vibe—until Ganke brought in his Lego bricks.

I haven’t told anyone about my powers, not even Ganke. I know he was a great help to Miles, but Ganke is still a kid. He’d eventually blab to a girl or someone he thinks should know. Plus, I don’t need a sidekick, nor do I want to put anyone in danger because they know my identity.

I won’t be sticking around in the 7th grade for long. I need to administer the serum to myself soon, preferably before I turn eleven. The dosage is only enough to fully enhance a child without the usual adverse effects. I had time before, but now that I’ve been empowered by the spider bite, the serum might become insufficient, leading to complications.

After using the serum, I’ll no doubt grow taller—not as dramatically as Captain America, but tall enough that I wouldn’t fit in with the 7th grade. So, I plan to skip a grade before using the serum. This way, I’ll be in 9th grade, where my height won’t stand out as much.

I already spoke with the principal about it. I told him I was too advanced for my current grade and wanted to move up to 9th grade. I took a series of tests and exams, which were no challenge at all. After acing them, the principal agreed, but the transition won’t happen until after summer break, which is still two months away.

There’s been no mention of Spider-Man, leading me to believe that Uncle Ben is still alive. Peter Parker only fully embraces his role as Spider-Man after Uncle Ben’s death when he imparts the great power, great responsibility mantra. If Uncle Ben is still around, Peter hasn’t become Spider-Man yet.

Since I now have the power to help people, and I need to build a public image to further my own agenda, I’ve decided to try my hand at the hero business.