Earth-717: Spider-Man Vol 1

Chapter 2: Midtown High

The bell finally rung. Freedom.

"See you all tomorrow," said the teacher, her words falling on deaf ears.

Peter and Harry scrambled out of the classroom along with the rest of the students. As they did, a girl with shoulder length brown hair, a blue and purple splash shirt, jean shorts, thigh high black stockings, a satchel and black laced boots shoved past, hitting both of their elbows as she moved between them.

"Hey," said Harry. "Watch it, freak!"

"Piss off," said the girl, storming away.

Harry scoffed.

"Lily Madison," he said. "Queen of the weirdos."

"Eh," said Peter. "Anti-social maybe, but, no weirder than we are."

"She has no friends."

"Neither do we."

"True."

Harry then narrowed his eyes.

"What? Got a crush or something?"

Peter shook his head.

"Nah, no! No! Not, no. No. Definitely not. No. No."

"Awh, really?" asked Harry. "Her? Lily?! Why do you always like the creepy girls?"

"What?! Since when?"

"Since always."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"How long?"

Peter shrugged.

"How long?"

"Oh, I dunno," said Peter. "Just, uh, saw her last week in class and, like, maybe, maybe it was her hair, or, or something else, or, uh . . . . she draws."

"She draws?"

"I don't know, man! I just, I just think she's kinda, ah . . . . cute."

Harry laughed.

"Oh shit!"

"Shut up!"

Harry put on a mischievous smile.

"I'm telling Gwen."

"You are not telling Gwen!"

"I'm totally telling Gwen."

"I will hurt you!"

"Won't stop me."

"Harry!"

Harry laughed as Peter opened his locker and stuffed some of his books into it. Several pictures were taped on the inside, including one of himself, Gwen and Harry at a baseball stadium, a poster for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and an image of Tasha Stark flying over New York in her red and gold Iron Maiden costume.

"Eh," said Peter. "Probably won't feel the same way in a month. Why is puberty so annoying?"

"Ask Mister Warren," said Harry.

Peter looked at Harry with an uneasy face as he thought about their science teacher.

"Yeah, you're right," said Harry. "He's a creep. Don't do it."

"Besides, my aunt is 'introducing' me to someone soon. Kill me now."

"Introducing? To who?"

"To some niece of this lady, Anna. She lives right next door."

"Her niece?"

"Yeah. Yeah, uh, May said, um, something about her niece coming to live with her. I think she gave me more details, but honestly, I wasn't paying much attention. But then she tells me a couple days ago, oh, you remember Anna Watson's niece? She's moving in at some point this week, and I'm introducing you! Like, what does that even mean?"

"Sounds like a rough time, man."

Shutting the locker, Peter and Harry then made their way to the cafeteria. Hundreds of students were milling about, heading for the various tables. Gwen was already sitting at the table they always went to, and was scrolling through her phone. She barely noticed as Peter and Harry sat across from her. Harry snapped his fingers near her face to catch her attention.

"Oh," said Gwen, looking up. "Hi. Hey."

She put down her phone and started to eat some pasta out of a tupperware container in front of her. Peter pulled a sandwich out of his bag.

"Not getting anything with me?" asked Harry.

"Got no money, man," replied Peter.

"Alright, alright, be right back."

Harry stood up and walked towards the food counter. Peter sullenly took a bite of his sandwich as Gwen spun her pasta around with a plastic fork. They glanced at each other and sighed. Putting his sandwich down, Peter then placed his elbows on the table and looked to the side. He could see Lily Madison sitting by herself at a table across the room.

He had seen her around the school many times before, and she had always been a loner. She had her earphones in her ears, a Thermos full of soup at her side, and she was drawing in one of her notebooks. She clicked the tips of her boots together a few times as she drew, before taking a quick sip of her soup.

Peter completely lost track of himself as he looked at her profile.

"Pete?"

Peter blinked and turned back to Gwen.

"Hmm?"

"Lost in space?" she asked, before shoving another helping of pasta into her mouth.

"Uh, y-yeah, yeah, I guess."

"How was English?"

"Eh. Wondering why exactly we're reading The Scarlet Letter."

"What does Harry think of it?"

"No idea. He's not reading The Scarlet Letter."

Peter and Gwen shared a laugh.

"Sounds like Harry," said Gwen. "He always wonders why his grades are crap. Well, between you and me, I'm not wondering."

"Don't say that to his face."

Gwen pursed her lips.

"That's why I said between you and me."

Gwen then sat back and went silent as Harry returned with a tray. He sat next to Peter, who felt a bit of sweat start to fall down his temple as he saw two slices of pizza, a bag of chips and a Coke can on it. He then looked down at his meagre sandwich and internally screamed at his depressing lack of funds. Harry then held out one of the slices to him.

Peter imagined a tear starting to form in the corner of his eye.

"For me?"

"Yeah, man," said Harry. "Come on, you know I got a small stomach. Got a second one for you. That sandwich was looking pretty sad."

Peter took the slice of pizza and looked upon it like it was a national treasure. He then glanced at Gwen and frowned.

"None for Gwen?"

"She doesn't want any."

"Yeah," said Gwen. "Trying to eat healthier for the last two weeks. Remember?"

"Oh," said Peter. "Right, right. How's that going?"

Gwen sighed and looked down.

"I'm hungry a lot more."

Peter took a bite of his slice.

"Sorry," he said.

Then, a voice that Peter wished he never had to hear again came from behind him.

"Yeah, you better be sorry! For existing, Parker!"

Peter let out a loud sigh. He didn't even need to turn around to sense Flash Thompson approaching him from behind. As always, he was followed by his two constant companions: his girlfriend, Liz Allan, and his best friend, Kenny Kong. Flash and Kenny chuckled in unison, while Liz stayed silent.

Harry looked over his shoulder at the three of them, but Peter didn't move.

"What?" asked Flash. "Ignoring your old buddy?"

Gwen bit the inside of her lip. Peter felt his heart rate climb as his senses kicked in.

"We're not buddies, Flash."

"Sure we are! Old buddies . . . ."

Peter could sense the miniature movements in Flash's muscles, and he knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to try and grab Peter's hair and slam his face down against the table. Peter could see it all play out in his mind in less than half a second. He knew that he could easily dodge the attack and humiliate Flash.

And, at the moment, he really couldn't care less if it was something he shouldn't do.

He could already see it. He avoids Flash's arm, allowing him to slam his fist into the table. Flash's knuckles crack and bleed all over the place, and he cries out for his mother. Liz shrieks. Kenny faints. Gwen pulls pom poms out of thin air and cheers. Sunglasses materialize on Harry's face as he throws several hundred dollar bills at his friend.

And a certain Lily Madison looks up from her drawing, and after watching his incredibly brave and masculine act, promptly falls in love with him on the spot.

It was the perfect fantasy.

That is, until he remembered something that someone very important said to him only a few short months ago. Something that reminded him that no matter how satisfying such an action may be in the moment, that it wasn't the right thing to do.

So Peter stayed still as Flash grabbed him by the hair and slammed his face into his pizza slice.

Gooey.

Kenny grabbed at his gut as he laughed. Peter pulled the pizza off his face, with a couple bits of stretchy cheese connecting his skin to the slice. Gwen and Harry both frowned at him. Liz folded her arms and scowled.

"FLASH!"

Flash looked at Liz and shrugged.

"What?"

"Stop it! Haven't you tormented the poor kid enough?"

"Pfft."

"Better listen to your lady, Thompson."

Peter, Gwen, Harry, Flash, Liz and Kenny all turned to look at the source of the new voice. He was standing only a couple metres away. He was a black kid as tall and muscular as Flash, and he had both of his hands in his pockets of his dark grey jacket. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at Flash. He didn't need to say that he wasn't afraid of anything, because his facial expression said it all.

"You touch him again, and I'll break your arm," said Eddie.

"Oh, whatever, Brock. That all you got, huh? Threats?"

"Won't be a threat next time."

Flash waved his arm down.

"Screw you."

Flash then walked away, with Kenny following after him. Liz quickly looked down at Peter.

"I'm sorry."

Liz then followed after the other two. After they were gone, Eddie walked up to their table.

"Eddie!" said Gwen, getting up from her seat.

Eddie gave Gwen a hug.

"Hey, cutie."

He then sat down next to Gwen. Peter and Harry both smiled at Eddie as he pulled out a napkin and handed it to Peter.

"Thanks," said Peter, as he started to wipe his face.

Eddie then gave Harry a quick nod.

"Osborn."

"Hey, man," said Harry.

"I really cannot leave you guys alone for two minutes, can I?"

"Guess not," said Peter, Gwen and Harry in unison.

The four of them laughed together. When none of them were paying attention, Lily lowered her pencil and glanced over at their table.

After web swinging all the way home to his apartment in Queens, Peter did a quick change back into his civilian clothes behind the building. He then went through the front entrance and raced up the stairs to his floor. Unlocking the door, he saw Aunt May, in her workout clothes, jumping rope in the living area.

She had moved the couch and ottoman to the side of the room so that she wouldn't hit anything with her rope. The only thing she hadn't moved was the sofa chair, which had always been in the exact same place.

"Hey," she said, not breaking her jumping rhythm.

"Yo," said Peter, closing the door. "What's this? Olympic training?"

"Yeah. Silver medal, comin' up."

Peter chuckled.

"No, smartass," said May. "What, I'm not allowed to keep in shape?"

Peter held up his hands.

"I didn't say that. I didn't say anything."

"Uh huh."

May stopped jumping as Peter opened the door to the fridge. She went to the counter and grabbed her water bottle. After taking a large sip, she looked over at Peter.

"Looking for something?" she asked.

"Food."

"There's food in there, genius."

"But like . . . . food I want."

May walked up to Peter's side and then glanced at his face.

"Hey. Did something happen at school today?"

"What? I don't . . . ."

May interrupted Peter by placing her hand on his forehead, closely looking at his skin.

"Looks like you got a little bruise there. Flash?"

Peter sighed as he closed the fridge door.

"Yeah."

"Was it a fight?"

"No, no fight. Just a quick . . . . Eddie stopped it before it got bad."

"You know, you can't rely on Eddie forever. I love the kid for trying to protect you all these years, but you gotta learn to stand up for yourself. You won't have someone like Eddie when you go to college, or when you get a job. But there will be people like Flash. Maybe they won't try to punch you in the face, but they will try to keep you down. And you need to know how to deal with that."

Peter rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah."

May smiled as she then assumed a boxing pose.

"Was thinking of taking up boxing. Maybe I could show you a few moves."

Peter and May laughed as she tossed a few fake punches.

"Just in case anything ever . . . ."

May paused.

". . . . happens."

Both of their smiles instantly faded. Peter then glanced at the counter, where he could see a family photo. It showed Peter just over a year ago, standing in a park with May. She was laughing, and had her hand on his right shoulder. Standing next to her was a man the same age as her, with a wide grin on his face. His hand was on Peter's left shoulder.

Peter looked away from the photo and back to May. Letting out a deep sigh, she then reached out and placed her hand on the back of his head. Peter closed his eyes as May pulled him in for a hug.

"Uploading files."

Otto grinned to himself as he held his cup up to his mouth using one of his titanium tentacles. The three metallic pincers on the end of the tentacle held the cup completely still. He quite appreciated this fact, because his real hands were prone to being rather unsteady. He set the cup back down on his desk as the images appeared on his array of monitors.

Otto was sitting in a chair in front of the control station of his secret laboratory. There were numerous computers, a dozen screens arranged in a rectangular pattern, and various pieces of scientific equipment. The lab was underground, being powered by special generator of Otto's own design. The lab was completely dark outside of the light coming from the monitors. He had no need for light because his customized goggles made everything visible to him.

New images appeared on the various monitors, all of them of Spider-Man. Some of them showed him swinging through the city, while others showed him crawling along the walls of buildings. Then, a video appeared, allowing Otto to see exactly how Spider-Man moved. He watched as the colourful vigilante let go of a web line, performed an upside down aerial pirouette, grabbed a street light with one arm, and then heaved himself back into the air before firing another web line.

"Strength. Agility. Flexibility."

Otto smirked.

"There's no doubt."

The mechanized voice filtered through the computer again.

"What should I do now?"

Otto places his hands together before responding.

"Bring him to me."