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Marvel Universe: Heroism

Chapter 10: The Heroes React part 1: Spider-man

Peter Parker had very little time at the moment. Right now he was running as fast as he could to Midtown high for his chemistry class with Dr Connors. The usual reason for his tardiness was Spider-man, though he couldn't exactly say that in front of the entire class. He arrived halfway through the lesson and as usual was laughed at by most of the occupants of the class apart from Mattie Franklin, his girlfriend Gwen Stacy and Kenny "Kong" McFarlane who had recently become part of the outsiders of the school. Kong used to hang out with the high schools quarterback Flash Thompson until Flash came out as a racist, after insulting a black student Flash received a well-deserved punch in the gut from Kong. Peter nervously walked to his chair that was positioned in between his girlfriend and his next-door neighbour Mary-Jane Watson. Gwen Stacy was a beautiful blonde haired girl who always showed a gentle smile, and Mary Jane was an equally as beautiful red haired girl who achieved good grades but knew how to have a good time. What surprised Peter the most was that Mary Jane was late as well. She arrived just few minutes after Peter and was given a detention by Connors. After the lesson, which like most science subjects Peter excelled in, the students left for their lockers to get their books for their next lesson.

"Maybe you should take a break" Gwen suddenly said as Peter removed his Literature text books from his locker.

"What was that Gwen?" Peter asked closing his locker.

"You should take a break from the Bugle, its clear running around the city taking pictures of Spider-man and any other hero that appears on the streets takes a toll on you" Gwen said.

"I need the money…though I don't need it that bad, I suppose a break would do me good" Peter said.

While he still had his responsibility as Spider-man Peter thought that he could always leave the city to Aeon and let Ben Reilly take over as spider-man for a while. Peter hadn't had any opportunity to take Gwen out ever since the dinner they had a few months back when Sven first started out. Though Gwen and Peter's love was strong Peter felt it was important for him not to neglect her. After their English Lit class the students of midtown high all gathered for lunch in the cafeteria. Peter collected his usual sandwich bag lunch and walked over to his group's table that included himself, Gwen, an African American teen by the name of Hobie Brown, Mattie Franklin and the new addition Kong. As Peter ate his lunch his eyes drifted to the teacher's table, he noticed one of the teachers was reading a newspaper. Peter thought he saw something about Aeon on the page, but he merely dismissed it as someone either praising or insulting Aeon's work.

"Hey did you guys hear about that attack on the Avengers mansion literally?" Kong asked.

"Yeah, apparently the Brotherhood attacked it, just after the Steel Spider was wounded too!" Hobie said.

"And they've added new members to the team too, too bad Spider-man isn't on the team" Mattie said.

"No way Spider-man's much cooler as a solo act" Kong said and Peter smirked as Kong and Mattie began a long winded argument about what was better, spider-man as an Avenger of spider-man as a solo hero.

"HEY KEEP IT DOWN!!" One of the students yelled.

Everyone turned his or her attention to the TV that had been out in the top corner of the cafeteria. Peter widened his eyes in shock as it showed a picture of Aeon on a mock wanted poster. The student that had yelled turned the volume up and Peter focused on the words that the reporter said intensively.

"We have confirmed rumours that yesterday the Avengers mansion was attacked by the newest costumed crime fighter Aeon, with us now is S.H.I.E.L.D. public relations manager Betty Ross, so Miss Ross what exactly was stolen from the mansion?"

"That's classified information but I can tell you that it was essential to the defence of our country from superhuman threats, I'll also say that thankfully none of the Avengers were injured and S.H.I.E.L.D is already doing everything it can to track him down, In just a few hours I'll be revealing Aeon's true identity so that the public can do their part in the search" Betty Ross explained.

The room remained silent, normally the high school students would pay little attention to the news on the TV, but since this was concerning an idol they paid more attention.

"This is Bull shit!" One student said.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s either made one idiotic mistake or they've just turned Aeon into a villain deliberately" Kong said and half of the student body got up off their seats and began arguing amongst themselves.

"S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't accuse Aeon of this without proof and reason"

"He's a hero he'd never do this!"

"Yeah this must be some kind of set up"

Peter listened intently to what others spoke, all the while thinking about the times that Aeon had helped him out. He knew that Aeon wouldn't have stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. data unless it saved lives. Then he thought of the times he had talked with his clone Ben Reilly, who had been allied with Shang-Chi at one point. Ben told him what Shang-Chi had told him, that something was wrong with S.H.I.E.L.D. a flaw that the people who thought they were in control, like Fury were merely pawns to someone higher who had his own agenda.

'Revealing his identity to the world, oh my god they might as well be declaring a public execution for his family' Peter thought as he realised exactly what Ross was going to do today.

The outcast slowly rose off his chair and put his hand up catching the attention of students and teachers alike. Suddenly Peter jumped onto the table and put his plan into action.

"I know you guys probably don't care about my opinion but here it goes, S.H.I.E.L.D. might as well be declaring a public execution by revealing Aeon's identity, not just for him but for anyone close to him, his family included!" Peter began and some of the students widened their eyes as they realised the logic in his words, "Some of you might be curious to know who he is, but think about this, the amount of people whose lives he's saved and the countless plots he's stopped, and no ones ever repaid those debts, he's only been able to save lives and fight villains because his identity is a secret" Several students nodded at Peter's words.

"Who here has been saved by Aeon, or knows someone that was saved by him?" Mary Jane asked raising her hand to signal that the hero had saved her life.

"He ran into a fire to save my cousin, she was just two years old and not only did he carry her out of the fire, he also CPR so she could breathe" One of the jocks said.

"My mom would have been raped or worse if not for Aeon kicking the street thugs asses" Hobie said.

"One time I ate dinner with my uncle and aunt at a revolving restaurant, when the Hob Goblin attacked it looking to kill my uncle Aeon ignored the Goblin so he could get the people to safety" Mattie said.

"I was caught in the middle of a fight between the Avengers and the Rhino, when a ton of rubble came falling down towards me and a few other civilians, it was Aeon who got us out of the way" One student Michael Morbius said.

"When my daughter was kidnapped by that psycho Cletus Cassidy Aeon saved her life, waited with her not only for the police but for myself and her mother to arrive, and then at the end when a load of people started cursing him and yelling that it was his fault because of something the idiots from the papers said, he ignored the comments so that he could pat my daughter on the shoulder and tell her that everything was going to be ok" This time the story came from the principal and all were shocked by his words.

They remembered well the Cletus Cassidy case, the psychotic murderer kidnapped children and adults alike. He would torture them with all manner of surgical equipment, the women he would rape. But Aeon stopped him before he could kill his youngest victim at five. But some papers accused Aeon of being an accomplice of Cassidy's.

Peter nodded his head in respect to those who shared their stories with him and then spoke up "Aeon will continue saving lives with our help, the Bugle cant reveal anything if we block up their reporting room" he said and the students all nodded.

With a cheer the students of midtown high and some of the teachers left the school and began a march into the city towards the Daily Bugle building. The reporter Phil Urich noticed the hundreds of students walking out of their schools, he had seen the news report and he only needed to put two and two together to realise what was going on. He took out his note pad and began writing.

A debt paid and a secret kept, Thank you Aeon!

He smiled to himself as he did what he liked, writing. The students of mid town high weren't the only ones to protest, police officers, firemen and anyone else who had been saved or had seen Aeon save a life or beat down a villain. They all stood outside chanting three words.

"KEEP THE SECRET! KEEP THE SECRET! KEEP THE SECRET!"

Jameson looked down at the crowd from his office, he shook his head for he couldn't bring himself to do this.

'They were right' he realised, Ross hadn't told him and at this point he didn't want to know the secret behind Aeon's mask/helmet.

Similar conflicted thoughts ran through Betty's head as she saw Peter and his group storm the camera room. She knew Peter's identity as Spider-man and she saw the point he bought up, but she had orders. Much to her surprise however Fury called her and told her to ditch the plan. The woman smiled to herself knowing how much Nick respected Sven and so desperately wanted to repay the debts he owed Slade. This was his way of paying back.

Later that day Peter's triumphant crew took a trip to Coney Island. Peter smiled as he watched Kong win at target shooting and Mattie and Gwen both discuss whether they should ruin their figures for Candy floss. A boy in a blue coat and hood suddenly bumped past him.

"Thank you!" He heard the boy say.

Peter looked around, but Sven had already disappeared into the crowd. He smiled as he walked back to his friends, tonight he would take a break, he would spend time with his girl friend without worrying about the city. For tonight the city was in good hands, cause a true hero watched over it.

Next Chapter 11: The Heroes React part 2: Shang-Chi and Echo