Chapter Text
Issue 1
It was a beautiful day, the sun was bright, and the birds in the sky were chirping. Outside of Midtown High School, on an outdoor stage in the middle of the school’s football field, Petra, alongside the rest of her class, stood garbed in a black robe and donning a square cap. She could hardly restrain her impatience as she waited for her name to be called so that she could finally stride across the stage and receive her high school diploma. It had been a long and hard road for her. Because of certain events in her life, graduating high school had somehow become lower on her list of priorities. Regardless, Petra had managed to overcome all the challenges that had been thrown her way so far, and now she was here. Finally done with the shitshow that was high school!
“Petra Parker!” Principal Davis called out. The audience didn’t seem to pick up on it, but Petra could hear the barely contained sound of disdain in his voice as he shouted her name.
Confidently, Petra strode across the stage, her neck-length bob of hair bouncing as she moved. Petra froze when Davis held out his hand, taking a second to glare at it. She couldn’t say that she really liked the man. No, that was an understatement. She had a lot of beef with him! For four years, he and his staff had done nothing while she had been relentlessly bullied by Flash Thompson and his little buddy Kenny “Kong” McFarlane. She knew why too. It was because she was trans. Although most of her class was accepting, the school would go out of its way to un-involve itself from any transphobic incidents that occurred.
Petra had a few good teachers who would try their best to help her, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. They kept Petra separated from Flash and his cronies in their classrooms, and would always stick up for her when Flash was visibly trying to mess with her. It didn’t do much though.
Whatever. It didn’t matter anymore, because now she was out of this dump, and she was looking forward to never seeing any of these people again. Well, except for a few of course. Petra begrudgingly shook his hand but made sure that the contact was as brief as possible. She didn’t want him to get the impression that he had any respect for him, or his authority.
After grabbing her diploma, Petra gladly left the stage and made her way back to her seat. She couldn’t stand to look that jerk in the eyes for one more second. The ceremony dragged on for another thirty minutes or so, with most of that time taken up by a surprise (and unwelcome) speech from J. Jonah Jameson of all people, before finally coming to a close. As things were wrapping up, the graduating class stood up from their seats, excitement gleaming in their eyes. Principal Davis walked back up to the microphone and spoke. “Now, I would like to remind you all that you are being strongly encouraged not to toss your hats! I know that’s what you always see on TV, but those do cost a lot, and we don’t want to mix them-”
Oh, whatever, we’re done with this place, and we’re done with you, I think we deserve some fun! Petra thought.
Letting out an audible whoop of joy, she tossed her hat into the air, the rest of her class quickly following suit. Out of the corner of her eye, Petra could see Davis glaring in her direction, but frankly, she didn’t care anymore. Locating her hat, she grabbed it and then walked towards her Aunt May.
On her way, Petra was joined by her only friend in the world, her now ex-girlfriend Mary Jane Watson. Petra was glad she was able to hang on to her, even with all the craziness in her life and the messiness of their breakup.
“Jeez, could that ceremony have dragged on any longer?” Petra asked, now trying to avoid dwelling on her and MJ’s relationship.
MJ chuckled. “If it had, I think my brain would have forced me to go into a comatose state out of sheer boredom.”
Petra groaned. “I’m just glad we got past the guest speaker! I can’t believe that, of all people, they decided to have J. Jonah. Jameson give a speech!” Petra rubbed her eyes. “It’s bad enough that I have to listen to the guy’s egotistical rants at the Bugle, why did he have to be at my graduation ceremony, of all places?”
“Tell me about it,” MJ said, a hint of annoyance in her voice, “Pretty much that entire speech of his was just him complaining about our generation, and trying to make himself into some kind of role model.” MJ paused. “By the way, did you hear the news about Flash?”
Petra raised an eyebrow. “Did the weight of his ego finally crush him? Or are you about to tell me something that’s going to make my day worse?” Petra crossed her fingers, hoping for the former.
“Sorry Petra, but it looks like you aren’t the only one who received a scholarship for Empire State, Flash got one too.” MJ said, with an annoyed huff.
Petra’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. He got a football scholarship, and now you’re gonna be going to school with him. Again.” MJ’s concern became more and more evident as she talked. They weren’t together anymore, but MJ was still protective of Petra, no matter how many times Petra would insist that she was fine, on account of her abilities keeping her from ever actually being harmed by someone like Flash.
Aunt May ran up and pulled the girls into a hug. “Oh! I just can’t believe that you two have finally graduated! I’m so happy for you!” MJ’s Aunt Anna walked up, pulling MJ into her own hug.
May let go of Petra, and then pulled out her phone for pictures. After chatting with the Watsons for a bit, May invited MJ and Anna to join her and Petra for lunch, and the four of them finally left Midtown High for the last time, heading for their home in Forest Hills. Anna left after lunch, and Petra and MJ opted to spend the rest of their day together, each enjoying the other’s company.
As the sun began to set, Petra saw MJ off, waving her goodbye as she began her short trek back home. It wasn’t long, considering that they lived right next to each other. Really it was amazing that it had taken so long for them to meet each other, both their aunts had needed to force them to have dinner with them for them to meet. In retrospect, Petra couldn’t believe that she had spent so long avoiding her aunt’s attempts to meet the “lovely girl next door.” Mary Jane was the most valuable friend that Petra had ever had.
After saying goodnight to Aunt May, Petra headed upstairs, entered her room, and closed the door behind her. Quickly taking off the day’s clothes, she then unlocked the chest at the foot of her bed, opening it up. Kneeling, Petra grabbed what she was looking for, and pulled it out, holding it in front of her. Her suit. It had gone through multiple redesigns over her two-and-a-half years as Spider-Woman, but Petra liked this one the best.
It was mostly black below the chest, with the occasional highlight of blue. The chest and arms were red, with black webbing running over it. A large blue spider covered the chest, with the legs reaching down to the stomach. On the back of the suit was another spider, this one also blue. The mask was the one part of the costume that hadn’t really changed. The white lenses of the mask, which were designed to shrink and expand based on the ways her eyebrows moved, were slightly more advanced than previous incarnations, but otherwise, it was the same.
Now donning the costume, Spider-Woman quietly opened her window, and then crawled out, sticking to the wall, and closing the window behind her. Looking at the house next to hers, she spotted MJ through her window, lying in her bed and scrolling on her phone. MJ looked up and spotted Petra. She gave what must have been an attempt at a cheerful smile, but it was clearly an attempt to hide her worry for Petra. MJ waved, and Petra waved back, before leaping up to the roof of MJ’s house. Petra began hopping from roof to roof until she finally reached some taller buildings, where she could comfortably begin swinging. Eventually, she made her way toward Brooklyn, where she began her nightly patrol of the city.
Ah, smell that disgusting New York air. Petra thought as she swung through the city. It stinks worse than the Mets this year! Petra let go of her web line, using her momentum to perform a backward flip, before shooting out another web, swinging herself forward again. The city may stink, and maybe the Mets do too, but at least I get to do this! I swear, there’s no better thrill than web-slinging! Petra swung onto the top of a building, then stood on the ledge, looking down at the street below. She mused on how little crime there had been that night. In fact, the last month had seen less criminal activity in general, though there was still plenty to keep her on her toes. Surprisingly, she hadn’t even encountered a single supervillain in the last three weeks!
Petra was willing to bet that this was in part due to the recent opening of a new asylum in Westchester County, which was built to contain the increasing number of mentally disturbed supervillains. If she remembered correctly, it was named the “Ravencroft Institute”, or something like that. Electro, the Vulture, and the Sandman, among many others, were all being contained and treated there.
And there they shall remain, I hope. Another encounter with the Sandman and I’ll have sand trapped in my hair for the rest of my life. Petra thought.
Just as Petra was about to jump off the roof, her spidey sense went off, and she quickly threw herself backward, narrowly avoiding a large flash of fire flying past where she had been about to jump. Standing up, and rushing to the edge of the roof, she looked around to see what had caused it. After scanning for a few seconds, Petra finally caught a glimpse of what it was. Oh. Great. It’s the Human Dork.
Zigzagging around and between buildings, and sometimes getting recklessly close to the traffic beneath her, was the Human Torch, a.k.a, Jackie Storm. Petra stood on the edge of the roof once again, this time following through and hopping off, once again web-slinging down the street. This brought her flying right past the Torch, who was going in the opposite direction. The Human Torch quickly turned around and caught up to Petra, who made a point of NOT looking in her direction, or acknowledging her at all. Jackie turned on her side, resting her head on her hand as if she was lying on a bed, and spoke.
“Well, if it isn’t little ol’ webhead! What are you doing following me around?”
Petra scoffed. She and the Human Torch had never gotten along all that well, for some reason their personalities just seemed to clash, leading to endless bickering. Not that they had met that often. “Me? Following you? You wish, flame brain! And by the way, you’re the one following me!”
The Human Torch pressed on. “Okay, maybe I was looking around for you, whatever! Anyways, what are you doing right now?’
Petra sighed. “Swinging. Obviously.”
“No, I mean, like, what are you swinging around for?”
“I’m patrolling the area to see if I’m needed anywhere. Y’know, your typical cat stuck in a tree, or a fire, or some kind of mugging.”
“Ha! Aren’t cats stuck in trees a little beneath you? I mean, like, you’re a superhero! Spider-Woman! Shouldn’t you be looking for, I dunno, Stilt Man or something” The Torch questioned.
Why is she bothering me right now? “Isn’t Brooklyn a little beneath you?” Petra said, almost accusingly. I thought you and the Fantastic Four mostly stuck to Manhattan!” Petra countered. “And from what I’ve seen online, Stilt-Man is more of a Daredevil problem. Not a me problem.”
“Hey, don’t get all territorial with me! I see you swinging around Manhattan and the Bronx all the time! And I hear you operate in Queens too!” Jackie shouted, flailing her arms about in exaggerated motions to emphasize her point.“But that’s beside the point, now answer my question!”
“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, there aren’t many supervillains out and about right now, and frankly I’d like to keep it that way!” Petra answered. “When I became Spider-Woman, it wasn’t to go off fighting weird Russian hunters or creeps flying around and wearing an unfashionable combination of purple and green, (I haven’t seen that bozo in a while though). I did it to do stuff like this!”
And with that, Petra let go of her web, allowing herself to descend towards the ground. Shooting off another web, she brought herself towards the edge of an alleyway, where a man was pointing a gun at a couple, and demanding they hand over whatever valuable items they had. She shot a web toward the guy's gun and pulled it out of his hand and toward herself. She then grabbed the gun and webbed it to the side of a building, while simultaneously landing on top of the mugger. Jumping off of him, Petra allowed the mugger to stumble back up before jumping at him again, punching him in the gut. She then webbed him to the side of the building. Quick and efficient, a far cry from how she used to handle things in her early days of crime fighting.
Petra turned to the couple and was about to speak to them, but before she could get a word in, the man held out his wallet, crying out, “Here! Take it! Just don’t hurt us!”
“What? I don’t want your wallet, and I’m not gonna hurt you! I was just saving you guys from that mugger!” Petra shouted. The couple didn’t respond, they just ran away, clearly still terrified. Although it still offended her that people assumed she was just another bad guy, she had gotten used to it by now. Thanks for that one, Daily Bugle! She turned back to the mugger.
“Can you believe that? I just saved them from you!” Petra moaned with faux outrage. “People these days need to learn some better manners, I swear!”
The man kindly responded by shouting, “Go to hell, you bitch!” Petra thanked him for his kind words by webbing his mouth shut.
“Enjoy your night stuck to the wall sir! You deserve it!” Petra cheerily shouted, giving him a small salute, before pulling herself into the air with a web. As she swung, Torch quickly caught up with her again.
“I mean, good job and all, but they didn’t even say thank you! I can’t believe that!” Torch said.
Petra rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, not all of us are celebrities here. You and the rest of the Four just benefit from really great PR.”
“And a really great lawyer too!” Jackie replied, almost oblivious to the slight jealousy in Petra’s voice.
Petra kept swinging for another block, before abruptly changing course and flinging herself to the top of a smaller building that overlooked a few warehouses sitting by the
East River. The Torch touched down next to her.
“Alright matchstick, what’s the deal? Why the sudden interest in me?” Petra demanded. “Sure we’ve had a few team-ups in the past, but it’s not like we’re all buddy buddy or something.” Petra paused. “In fact, all we ever do when we aren’t beating the living snot out of the latest supervillain of the week is argue with each other.”
Jackie dissipated her flames, revealing the tall blonde underneath, her hair in a ponytail, and wearing a blue bodysuit with a stylized four on her chest. Petra had to admit, if she wanted to, Jackie Storm could be a model. Actually, I think she is a model, I think I’ve seen her in a few teen magazines I’ve seen people reading. Jackie awkwardly scratched the back of her head with her left arm and seemed to look everywhere but in Petra’s direction.
“Well, the thing is…” Jackie trailed off.
“Yes?” Petra asked, her patience quickly leaving her.
“Well, I’m…kinda…ugh! I’m fucking bored!” Jackie shouted.
“Bored?” Petra asked, now suddenly very confused.
“Yes!” Jackie desperately exclaimed. “Bored! I’m a superhero! And while it’s a super sweet job, and I love the others in the Four, it also means that I don’t get around much! I just graduated, but even when I was in high school, I had to deal with being treated like a celebrity all the time!”
Jackie paused, backtracking. “And again, super sweet! But that meant that everyone around me just wanted to suck up because of my fame, no one actually wanted to be my friend! And…it’s a little difficult to relate to other people now. Y’know, people who aren’t also superheroes. And most of us are all a lot older, there aren’t a lot of other people like me that are my age! I’m… I’m getting pretty lonely honestly.”
Petra cocked an eyebrow, changing the shape of her mask's lenses. “Okay? So… you’re implying that you want to hang out with me because we’re both superheroes, and you just assumed that we’re the same age?” Petra didn’t mean to sound like a complete jerk there, but she needed to do something to keep her secret identity at least partially secure.
Jackie giggled. “Oh come on. You are so obviously my age! Maybe a little younger. Don’t even try to hide it. I bet you’re, what? 17? 18?”
19, but that’s not your business. “Okay, so maybe you’re a tiny bit close. But why me? Why not some of the X-Men? A lot of them are ou- you’re age! Why not go and hang out with them?” Petra was really getting confused now. She and Jackie Storm, as far as she could tell, really didn’t have much in common. She couldn’t really see the two of them hanging out together.
Jackie pouted. “Well, yeah! But they’re over in Westchester! I mean, it’s not super far, but it is really out of the way, and…not all of them, but some of them are kinda assholes. And besides…I’m kind of a, um, a fan…of you.”
A fan? I have fans? She’s a fan? I thought she hated me! Petra laughed. “Honestly, yeah. Those guys are doing great work, fighting for mutant rights and all, but Professor Xavier kinda has a stick up his ass. And don’t even get me started on Wolverine and Cyclops! Kitty, Jubilee, and Bobby are pretty cool though, do you know them?”
Jackie shook her head. Petra shrugged her shoulders. She was starting to feel a little bad now. Maybe the Torch wasn’t so bad, and maybe she should stop being a jerk to her. “Well, you should definitely meet those guys sometime.” Petra paused, feeling a little awkward and uncomfortable. “Okay, so, say we-” Petra’s head began to ring, and she immediately cut herself off. Her spidey sense was blaring, and she couldn’t tell what was setting it off! Jackie was looking at her, confused, but Petra didn’t have time to explain.
Just then, a black stealth helicopter began lowering itself towards the warehouse closest to the water, its wings nearly silent. Wow, that must be a pretty advanced chopper for it to barely produce any noise. Petra thought. She ran to the edge of the roof and saw four men wearing purple suits and strange-looking grey gas masks descending from lines attached to the helicopter. The men unhooked themselves from their lines, dropping onto the roof of the warehouse. Then, they attached grappling hooks to the side of the roof and scaled down the walls until they reached a window, which they carefully cut a hole in, before entering.
“Somethings going on down there Jackie! I’ve gotta check it out!”
“So we’re on a first-name basis now? Does that mean that we’re friends?”
“Now’s not the time! We’ve got bad guys to bust!” Petra jumped off the roof, swinging towards the ship. Jackie followed close behind, now once again engulfed in her own flames.
“Bust? What are you, Candace Flynn?”
“Absolutely, 'cause these guys are sooo busted!”
Spider-Woman silently crawled through the window that the four strange men had cut open, with the Human Torch following close behind her. With Jackie’s flames turned off for the time being, they made their way to the top of a large stack of crates overlooking the rest of the warehouse. Two of the men in purple had opened a large container, and the other two were removing a strange red device on wheels from it. Petra launched herself forward, and with a swift kick, knocked one of the men down.
“This seems like a nice party you guys have here! Do you mind if I crash it?” Petra quipped. The other goons shouted in surprise, before attempting to grab her. Petra pushed one away, but as she did, the man she had kicked stood up and jumped at her. Alerted by her spider-sense, Petra turned around in an attempt to intercept him, but just as she caught him, her spider-sense went off once more. With no time to move, Petra was tackled to the ground by the other goon.
“Spider-Woman is here! Get the cargo out of here and on the chopper now!” The man who had tackled her shouted.
“Aw, don’t leave for my sake! Stay a while!” Petra grunted from where she was pinned down. The Human Torch flew directly into him, throwing him to the side. She then sent a light blast of flames in the direction of the other thieves, scattering them.
“You okay web head?” She asked.
Petra rubbed her head, quickly regaining her bearings. “Physically, yeah, but I think my ego may have taken a hit.”
Jackie giggled, helping Petra to her feet. Petra ran past her to chase the thieves. The stealth helicopter lowered itself in front of the warehouse, and its side door slid open. Another man dressed in purple who had been sitting inside assisted the thieves in getting in and lifting the device onto the chopper. Petra was within arm's length of them when it began lifting into the air again. She jumped, attempting to grab onto it, but narrowly missed. Before she could hit the ground, she was grabbed from behind by a pair of arms and lifted back into the air. Looking behind her, Petra could see that it was Jackie Storm, whose arms, unlike the rest of her body, were conveniently not on fire.
“These guys seem to be pretty well organized, I wonder what they’re taking!” Jackie said, shouting to be heard over the wind as she flew the two of them towards the helicopter, which was now escaping over the waters of the East River.
Petra shouted back. “I think I recognized it from an article I read about nuclear research! I can’t recall exactly what it’s for, but I know it has something to do with radiation!”
“Oh! Well ain't that lovely, you’re a science nerd huh?” Jackie snarked.
“Uh, yeah, what about it?” Petra asked defensively. She wasn’t about to take any more crap from anyone else about her special interests!
“Ugh, nothing. I just kinda get my fill of science from dealing with Reed at home!” Jackie paused. “Uh, not that you being a nerd bothers me or something!” She stammered out quickly, trying desperately to not offend her (maybe) friend.
Finally, the two of them caught up with the helicopter, and Petra pushed off of Jackie, sticking to its side. Using her enhanced strength, Petra ripped the side door off and flung herself inside. Jackie flew in shortly after, shouting “Flame off”, leaving only a small amount of flames on her arm. The occupants of the helicopter simply stared at her, standing in stunned silence as she landed between them. Petra used this to her advantage, taking a swing at the thief that was closest to her, and knocking him to the ground while shouting out a series of quips that left the thieves increasingly more and more annoyed.
Meanwhile, Jackie was using her flame blasts to ward off potential attacks, and taking swings at the thieves in between blasts. Petra had to admit that Jackie had a lot more control over her own abilities than she thought she did, as she masterfully kept her enemies on their toes with her flame blasts, while simultaneously avoiding severely burning them.
Maybe she isn’t as reckless as I used to think she was. Petra thought.
Just then, one of the thieves pulled out a strange-looking pistol and pulled the trigger, a noxious green gas beginning to leak out of it. Petra quickly held her breath, knowing that she could hold it longer than a baseline human, but she could still feel herself becoming a little woozy. Jackie, seeing the threat of the gas, quickly shouted “Flame on!” and jumped out of the helicopter, her body once again engulfed in flames so that she could keep pace with the vehicle while staying out of range of the gas. Petra continued to duke it out with a few of the masked goons, whose gas masks kept them safe, and with the luxury of a steady supply of oxygen, something that Petra was very envious of at the moment.
“I guess that gas finally shut you up, huh? You goddamned spider freak!” One of them shouted.
The back of Petra’s throat burned with a thousand potential quips that she had to force herself not to utter. As she continued to battle some of the goons, she overheard a voice speaking near the front of the helicopter. “I just got an order from the Master Planner! Execute plan G now!” Soon after Petra saw two of the goons attach a small device to the side of the stolen machine, before quickly bringing it to the opening of the helicopter, and pushing it over the edge. Jackie Storm, still following the helicopter, but unable to actually join the fight, could do nothing but watch as it fell into the murky waters of the East River below her.
That gave Petra an idea though. Petra pushed herself away from the goons she had been fighting, and ran to the side of the chopper, shouting out to Jackie. “Torch! Catch me!” Jackie quickly dissipated the flames on her arms and front torso, allowing herself to safely catch Petra just as she leaped into her arms from the helicopter.
“What’s going on?” Jackie asked.
“I need you to slowly melt the rotor blades! As the helicopter descends, everyone inside will need to abandon it, and we can grab them and take them to shore!” Petra shouted.
“Uh, alright, you’re the boss, I guess.” Jackie said, before lifting an arm and shooting a beam of fire at the rotors, and keeping Petra secure in the other.
Soon, the blades were too damaged to keep the helicopter in the air, and it began to descend into the water. Nobody was jumping out to safety like Petra had hoped they would. With a splash, the chopper landed in the water, and it quickly began to sink below the surface. Petra was expecting to see the occupants of the downed craft pop up any second, but they never did. Concerned, Petra pushed herself out of Jackie’s grip, and dove into the water.
Quickly reaching the hull of the helicopter, now sitting at the bottom of the river, Petra swam inside, using the flashlight on her belt to illuminate her surroundings in the otherwise pitch-black environment. All that she found was an empty vessel. Petra continued to search in and around the craft. She could feel herself running out of air, but she didn’t care, she needed to find out if everyone was alright! Swimming outside of the downed craft, she started to search the seabed that surrounded it. Still nothing.
Confused, and out of oxygen, Petra began to swim back up. About halfway to the surface, Petra’s vision began to go dark, and her body began to involuntarily thrash around. Desperately pulling at the water around her, she slowly but surely made her way back to the surface, her head finally breaching the water. Petra gasped for air and tried to keep herself afloat, but the combination of the exertion and lack of oxygen caused her body to start to give out, and she slowly lost consciousness. Just before she could sink back below the surface, she was pulled out of the water and into the air by warm hands, and soon she was brought back to the docks, where she was gently set down on one of the piers by a panicking Jackie Storm.
“Oh my god! Spidey! Are you okay? What am I thinking? Of course you’re not okay! You just almost drowned!”
When Petra didn’t respond, Jackie’s concern only grew.
“Uh oh, do you need CPR? Fuck, I think you need CPR!” Jackie ran her hand through her hair, which had gradually become a mess and come out of its ponytail during the fight. “Okay, I think I need to lift up your mask to give mouth-to-mouth. Okay, here we go, sorry about this Spidey.”
Just as she was about to lift up her mask, Petra startled awake. She reached out, grabbing Jackie’s outstretched hand, which was about an inch from her mask. Petra coughed. “No peeking.”
Jackie blushed, letting go of Petra’s mask. “Right uh, sorry! I thought you needed CPR, so I-”
Petra interrupted her. “I know. It’s okay.” Petra pushed herself into a sitting position and turned her head to look out at the water. “Um, thanks for the save.” Petra could feel herself shaking, both from the cold of the water and from the distress of nearly drowning. If Jackie noticed, she didn’t say anything. Petra was grateful for that.
Jackie shifted so that she was sitting next to Petra and gazed out at the water with her. The water was illuminated by the thousands of lights that lay alongside the East River, creating a dazzling light show, with the centerpiece being the reflection of the nearly full moon, distorted by the ripples and waves flowing over the surface. It was beautiful, and yet all Petra could do was stare at the area where the helicopter had splashed into the water. For a while, Petra and Jackie just sat there, saying nothing.
“There wasn’t a single person down there. I don’t know how, but all of them got away.” Petra paused, and a heavy silence fell upon the two. After a few more minutes she broke it, glumly speaking. “I thought- I thought that maybe they had died for a second and that I made a bad call. That it was my fault.” Petra hung her head in shame.
Jackie didn’t know what to say, so instead of talking, she moved to put her arm around Petra’s shoulders. For a second, she hesitated, the silent question of whether or not it was okay to touch her hanging in the air. Petra nodded her head, and that was all the confirmation that Jackie needed. The taller girl drew Petra into a comfortable side hug, her head leaning against the top of Petra’s. Gradually, Petra’s shivering began to subside, replaced by a nice warmth brought on by her newfound friend. The cold dampness of her wet suit began to fade a bit too. Petra would still have to stick in the dryer though, but not before washing it, as going for a swim in the East River wasn’t exactly a clean experience.
Petra and Jackie sat that way, the two of them staring out at the twinkling water, for what might have been hours. Eventually, they both had to get up and leave, both of them too tired to remain there any longer without falling asleep. The two of them said their goodbyes before they both went their separate ways, each promising to meet up again tomorrow if they both happened to be out at the same time. Petra made it home, slipping through her unlocked window, before peeling off her suit and throwing it into her laundry pile. Finally, she collapsed into her bed, relaxing in its soft comfort, and drifted off to sleep.