The Dilemma

Seth woke bright and early Friday morning to arguably one of the strangest sights in his life. There was once a time when he thought seeing a kid swallow a nickel and spit out a dime was weird, this morning was a whole new definition to weird.

Like his usual routine, Seth moaned and shakily made his way down for a coffee. His parents were as investing in their usual routines as well, Sandy indulged deeply in the paper while Kirsten babbled on and on about work related issues. Seth entered the kitchen and immediately went straight for the cupboard and pulled out a cup.

"Morning son.." Sandy was more than usual interested in his paper, not once looking up at Seth. "Jesus Kirsten look at this…" Sandy lightly tossed the paper across the table and it landed on her lap. She picked it up and began reading.

"Oh dear…Sometimes this city is beautiful, and others its just awful…" She held a hand over her mouth and shockingly gasped every so often. Seth casually resumed readying his coffee and thought nothing of what was in the paper.

"Things like this always bring me back that horrible day…" Sandy sipped on his mug and was entranced on the back of the paper.

"I know what you mean…" She did know exactly what he meant. It was the worst day of Kirsten's life. September 11th…Never would forget it. She vividly remembered crying and panicking all day hoping everyone was okay and safe.

"Anyways…"Kirsten shuddered and set the paper down. She and Sandy rose from their seats, finishing off the lasts of their meal. "Sorry honey but we've gotta get going early today. Big meeting today, and I guess your father's coming along just for the free meal at the end.." Sandy nodded his head and grinned relentlessly. His other motive for going was just to piss Caleb off.

"Bye!" they both said in unison and walked out the door. Seth set his coffee down then flipped the paper open, like always searching for the Arts and Leisure section. But before he did, something on the front page caught his eye. He looked at it and he instantly spotted what caught his attention. It was him.

It was a shot of him catching Tim Phillips in mid air with that Goblin character in the background. Seth was stunned at how anyone could get that kind of a shot, but realized there was probably numerous amounts of freelancers there, though he never noticed. He flipped it open and saw the first 5 pages were dedicated to the battle held yesterday at the school. He read the first page and was astounded:

Goblin and Masked Man Terrorize City

He flipped the page angrily and read the next heading on page 2.

Estimated $1 Million Dollars in Damages from Deadly Duo Clash

That just pissed Seth off. He searched the paper for any sign of good praise for him. He wanted the public to know he was the good guy, not the bad one. He saw on the last page, page 5, was all filled with comments and statements from those who witnessed it. He saw some comments from his classmates and they seemed to all have nothing but good things to say. Leon went on and on about how they should begin writing a comic for the new avenger, a few girls commented how 'hot' the hero looked. Seth chuckled, they had no clue who the hell he was. If they did, he was pretty sure they'd want to retract their comments. He quickly zoomed through the page and found the interview he was looking for, Summer's statement.

"It was so unreal. The whole thing was. He saved our lives and it was just…so amazing." They quoted her and Seth could even picture her saying those words. He tossed the paper on the table and resumed his morning preparations.

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The one advantage Seth used his spider powers for in real life was the web swinging. It was so the new way to travel. Of course now that he had a costume, he could simply roam all over the city and not have to worry about hiding his identity.

Seth swung through the town with his new found confidence from the paper. He looked down on the city and could spot all of the people pointing and staring up at him, probably trying to decide whether to be amazed or fearful. The latter was thanks to the paper. Jackasses, they never get anything right…Mostly nothing right.

Seth neared in on his school and checked the big tower clock. He had about 5 minutes till class, and he zipped around a building and could see his school clearly. But then suddenly his head started pounding, and he looked to where the source was. He saw a little boy running along the sidewalk bouncing a red ball. Seth looked puzzled at this. Didn't seem to be any problems there.

That was until he looked down the street and saw a fast approaching carrier truck, speeding well over the street limit. The driver looked visibly rushed and disturbed and showed no signs of slowing down. The boy was about to cross the street on the crosswalk, and the truck roared in on him.

"Come on kid….Stop…Stop…Stop!" Seth was desperately hoping to make it on time, and he knew it wasn't possible. The kid just kept skipping along across the street, and the truck was a mere 10 ft away. Seth instinctively swooped down but held onto his webbing and snatched the boy out of harms way, just barely evading the roaring truck. The truck continued on and only honked a few times to show he was pissed. It was typical New York fashion.

Seth acrobatically landed back on the ground and released his webbing, still clutching the now frightened boy over his shoulder. Nearby civilians had caught attention of the close call, and even gasped when they saw the boy nearly get picked off. When Seth landed, a few broke into unison claps. Seth set the boy down and he tried to calm the boy down.

"Phew…That was a close one buddy…You remember to look both ways before crossing.." Seth took his stab at preaching, he hoped it would work.

"Yes Mr.Spider-Man sir." The boy spoke quietly as he was shy. Seth smiled but it was hidden behind his mask. He then snapped back into reality when he spotted a mini crowd beginning to form. He leapt into the air and continued on his way towards school.

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"-Of course you all know of the different groups species belong to…Theres your carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, scaveng…-" The door swung open and Mr.Andrews stopped his lesson and peered at the door. The class all turned in their seats and began snickering. Seth stood at the door and felt completely out of place. School just sounded so wrong to him right now, especially considering when he should be out on the streets right now. nice of you to join us…class…turn to page 43 and complete #'s 1-4.." the class all groaned and flipped their books open. They too didn't feel like being in school, not after an event like yesterday.

"Seth, can I have a word with you…"Mr.Andrews called him over and walked out the door. Seth followed behind and shut the door. "Whats going on with you these days Seth? I mean your barely showing up to class, your grades are steadily declining, you always seem to be out of breath or something when you come in…Whats going on?" Mr.Andrews never was one to dance around the point, he always went straight to it.

"Well yeah because I always have to catch the bus, and when I miss it which is always, I have to run to school…" Seth defended his curious actions.

"And on top of that, you always seem to busy or have other things to attend to…" Seth just quietly grinned to himself. He understood exactly what he was talking about. "This isn't funny Seth…" Shit. He saw.

"Yeah…You could say I've been busy…"

"Too busy for school? Too busy for your future? Your still a model student here Seth, I'd hate for you to lose that. And I know you may be experiencing 'Sophomore Slump' or whatever, but you've got overcome this…"

"Sophomore Slump alright…:" Seth mumbled under his breath and rolled his eyes.

"Pardon me?" Mr.Andrews was now fed up with him. "Seth….go to the office…have them deal with this…" Mr.Andrews reentered the room but came back out shortly and handed Seth a slip of paper. "I expected better from you Seth…" he shook his head and walked back in the room, shutting the door on Seth's face. Seth dejectedly shook his head and continued on down the hall.

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Seth lazily continued on down the hallway, glancing in each room as he passed. It was not like him to get thrown out of class, well not technically, the only other time was when he was accused of assaulting Summer. Ha Ha! Like that would ever happen

Seth strolled by the school kitchen and saw the cook preparing lunch items, but seemed more interested in what was on the TV. Yes, our chef cared more for what was on TV then what he was currently slicing up. Seth casually walked into the kitchen to see what was up. It wasn't unusual at all. Students stopped in all the time to check on Archie, the cook. He was the only semi normal adult in the school, of course from the student's eyes.

"What's up Arch?" Seth spoke up and joined him over by the tiny portable TV. He finally pealed his eyes away from the TV and looked at Seth.

"Seth Cohen…nice to see you…."He extended his hand for Seth to shake, and Seth just stared at it. It was covered in sauce. He disgustingly shook his head violently and Archie grinned, catching the point. "So how are your parents?"

Another advantage to having powerful and influential parents, it was always a good help to get out of class. Everyone in New York seemed to know the name "Cohen".

"Ahhh there alright I guess…whats going on?" Seth averted his attention toward the small TV and pointed at it.

"Well theres some sort of disturbance going on at City Hall…." Seth saw as the police had the building surrounded and there were swat team vehicles arriving. "Its craziness now..All of it is…Ever since yesterday crime seems to be really heating up here…" He shook his head dismissively and continued preparing his meal.

"Did you say City Hall?" Seth asked nonchalantly and kept his gaze on the TV.

"Yep…But hey? What can yeah do? This towns starting to fall apart I tell yea…-" Archie turned to face Seth, and he was gone. He grinned to himself and busied himself in making lunch.

"….Kids…."

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Seth picked up his pace and broke into a slight jog. He turned the corner and nearly ran over the school librarian. She was up to her neck in books, and seemed to be struggling carrying them. In any other circumstance Seth would've stopped and helped out, but there was a crisis on hand. He felt like nothing in the world could stop him from reaching City Hall. Hell, he even thought like Summer couldn't distract him from City Hall, even if she came out of no where and kissed him again like she did after the wrestling match. He wouldn't put much faith in that though, he would never know until he was put in that situation.

Speaking of Summer, where is she? I'm pretty sure she wasn't in class…at least not in her seat anyways…I know for a fact she's not at the mall like I would've guess, because I clearly remember swinging by a billboard that said the malls were closed during the day today for some sort of cleaning.

Seth burst through the back doors, deciding it was best to avoid the front. They were probably expecting him. Mr.Andrews never was one to forget easily, so he certainly would be in deep shit when he returned to school Tuesday.

He bounded down the stairs and spotted an open alleyway across the street, it was the ideal place to make a quick change into costume. He was about midway down the stairs, when he looked across the lawn and spotted a lone figure leaned against an old oak tree. It looked to be a girl, considering the heels and tight denim jeans.

Seth all of a sudden felt distracted from getting to City Hall, and now found himself heading towards the girl by the tree. He stopped in front of the girl and looked down at her. She didn't seem to see him, and kept her gaze fixated at her hands. She appeared to be shaking and he could hear some sniffling. That couldn't be good.

"Hey…" Seth lightly whispered out hoping not to startle the girl. It was New York City after all, and she might think he was some attacker and turn around and mace him.

She finally looked up and Seth got a clear look of her. He looked deep into her eyes and it was exactly what he had been dreading. Summer Roberts crying. She was obviously trying to hide it, but he could just tell. Her hand was frantically swiping away at her face and the other hand was covering something up on her left eye.

"Sum! Oh my god are you okay?" This was not good. City Hall was under attack, and Summer Roberts was crying. For some strange reason, Seth felt the latter was more important, which couldn't be good for the city, but it was defiantly important for Seth. "Sum…" He was getting scared now, it wasn't like her to openly show her emotions like this. Matter of fact, she was always the strong one. Seth knew whatever it was, it had to be bad to make Summer cry. She always kept things bottled up.

"Summer, what happened?" Seth kneeled down beside her and grabbed her hand. He stroked her hand with his thumb in an attempt to make her feel safe and calm her down. He was now genuinely concerned. He knew it because his fists were clenched, fearing the worst, and his eyes were glued solely on her. This was something only Summer could make him do.

"…Nothin…" She sniffled and shrugged it off, it was a typical tactic. She kept her eyes distant from Seth's and she was clenching her cheek with a battered and bruised hand.

"Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you?" Seth's fists were bulging and his veins felt like imploding. The thought of someone hurting Summer was unbearable.

"No. No I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Seth was unconvinced.

Summer only just sniffled, but still kept her hand on her face, shadowing her features Seth found so beautiful. Why would she hide them? "Yeah…"

"Ok-okay then.." Seth was cut short by the sound of alarms ringing off down the street. Sure enough he peered down the street and saw as numerous police vehicles came roaring in. This quickly reminded him of where he was supposed to be.

Seth was still unconvinced with Summer's answers, but felt like leaving it at that, he had other matters to attend to. Summer was still top priority to him, but now he had the city to think about. He gave a sympathetic smile down at Summer, and gently placed a hand on her should before starting to walk away.

"Yeah, go ahead! Everybody else leaves me—you go too. Go right ahead." Summer spat out bitterly and Seth looked back to see her still in the same state, except could see her fiercely digging her clenched fists into the ground.

"Sum…Whats going on here….I'll help you if you tell me whats wrong…" Seth stood and softly spoke.

"….It's the one year anniversary of when my mother left…Some anniversary huh.." She said cold and laughed bitterly. She unintentionally removed her hands from her face, finally exposing her tarnished skin to him. Seth gasped at what he saw. He cheeks were puffed up and nearing a dark purple color. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably and her lips were lacking that usual glow she always gave off. "…and all of that is just icing on the cake…"

"….Summer…who did this to you…" For one of the first times ever, Seth was actually speechless. So many emotions were running through him. Hate, anger, sadness. You name it. His hands were buried deep within his lengthy pockets, to help refrain him from punching something.

Sirens now increased, and sure enough reinforcements were flying down the street and toward City Hall. Seth was in the worst situation ever. He finally faced his first dilemma as a hero. Help the one you love, or protect the city.

He knew whatever was going on at City Hall, it had to be major. Never before in the city had seen or heard this much commotion and panic come from the police force. Well that and say the other worst day ever, September 11th.

"…Sum listen….I gotta be somewhere right now…but when I'm done we'll talk okay?" Seth walked towards her and every step felt like daggers being jabbed into him. He felt like an idiot for abandoning her in a time like this.

"No Cohen I'm fine…" Seth simply lowered his knees and kneeled to look at her. She looked up at him, teary eyes and all, and finally burst into her first official breakdown since he arrived. The tears steamed out of her and slowly traced down her cheeks and to the ground. Seth, already feeling like shit, felt worse. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her and kept her close to his chest. She sobbed into his shoulder and dug her nails into the back of his spine and clung on fiercely.

"Okay Sum? After I'm done we'll talk…or uhh hangout or something…its ummm up to you of course, but I just want to make sure your okay and all…"He broke into a ramble and started to talk off her ear. She briefly giggled and gave her best fake smile, and tilted her head up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you Cohen…" Seth's cheeks turned a flush pink in a hurry.

He felt like saying more to reassure her that she'd be alright, like tell her to go home, or go find Zach, or even go to his house. But telling her to go to Zach's was just like practically gift wrapping her for Zach to steal her heart, and Seth just could not cope with that.

"You just uhhhh…hang tight and I'll be back before you know it…" He released Summer's tiny body and gave her one last smile, then bolted for the stairs. He didn't bother to look back at Summer, his mind was off at other places.

Who hurt my Summer? I swear to god if I find out…..ooohh I don't even know what I'd do….maybe she's just overreacting to something, but its highly unlikely…just take a look at her face Cohen! Jeez. And rarely do you ever see Summer Roberts of all people all broken down and upset like that.

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He quickly arrived in the alleyway and briefly glanced around to reassure himself no one was around. He ripped off his school attire, exposing his costume. It was still surprisingly new-looking and clean. No rips or tears.

He darted up the wall and sprinted to the edge. City Hall was a good 10 minutes away, if he made good time, which was a given. After all, there was no air traffic, because seeing other people randomly swinging around the city would be just weird.

He leapt into the air and soared over the school. He shot a quick look down at the spot where he last saw Summer, and sure enough she was still there. Like every time he went out, all the public's eyes were on him, thus evidently leading to Summer glancing up at him.

As he swung by her, it felt like time froze and it was just him and her. She stared on suspiciously, and Seth was too dumbfounded to rip his eyes away from her. That had to be reason enough for her to be suspicious. But he forcefully tore his gaze away from her and good thing. If he hadn't he would've totally smoke that tollgate total billboard.

He continued on down the busy streets of downtown New York, heading towards the scene of City Hall. Even in a time like this, he only had one thing on his mind. It should've been the last, but she just had that kind of control over him.

What happened to Summer….? Well theres the chapter…hope you liked it…