The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter 12 – "Just Business, Part 2"

Previously . . .

Between the Lizard incident, ESU's involvement, and Harry's father, a lot has been on the mind of Peter. The Bugle has released information of Connors' involvement with the Lizard, and will be published soon, meaning that what happens to ESU can't be very good. Jameson is still on his vacation away from work, so Robertson takes over – which actually causes the Bugle to run twice as smoothly.

Peter told Aunt May that he has decided to go on a date with Mary Jane, which is the only way he is getting out of the house on his grounding. However, due to the news Harry shared with him on Adrian, he is worried for Norman, and his friend. So, he decided to sneak out and help Harry "study" for Octavius' hard test, when he arrived, however, he was already kidnapped by a mysterious figure

Meanwhile, at Madison Square Garden, Gwen, Liz, and Sha Shan attended a concert held by the Boomerangs. However, lead singer, Fred Myers has somehow taken the whole concert hostage, threatening to kill anyone who tries to leave or refuse to cooperate. He has the security guards on his side as well. Liz was able to sneak out before the madness, and hide behind a food counter, how long will she stay hidden? Flash, who was trying to reconnect with his girlfriend, was able to find out before her battery died, and he contacted Captain George Stacy on the dilemma.

What more could go wrong?


Osborn Residence

Peter stood out on the balcony as he watched his friend fly away into the distance.

I can't believe I forgot my web shooters . . . of all times? Where the heck did I leave them anyway? Whoa! No time for this web-head, I have to find a way to get across these rooftops now…

Peter slipped off his sweatshirt and jeans to lighten his weight. He held his mask in his hand. He stepped back as far as he could on the balcony.

Okay, time to test my hops . . .

Peter ran with all his might and leaped off the balcony. Hundreds of feet above the New York Streets, He was able to grab onto a window sill of the next building. He quickly stuck to the wall and climbed like never before. Once he reached the rooftop of the building. He saw the quickly fading figure barely in his sights.

Hold on Harry, I'm coming . . . He thought as he slipped on his mask.

Captain Stacy's Police Car

Sirens blared, lights flashed, and swerving cars were heard throughout the streets. Captain Stacy led a squad of policemen toward Madison Square Garden, where his daughter and her friends were being held captive. Although it sounded very improbable, the fact Flash was very worried and that his daughter was involved was enough for Captain Stacy.

Stacy drove faster than he ever had driven before. Flash was in the passenger seat beside him, holding on for dear life has he swerved the corners.

"So, what's the plan? Liz said they have the place completely covered." Flash asked.

"We'll figure out when we get there, right now I need to focus on reaching our destination."

Flash nodded his head, not wanting to bother him anymore. Has he took one more sharp turn though, it felt has if he was going to be puking in the car.

The Stadium

Liz curled up behind the empty counter. She continued to listen as Fred chanted over the microphone. How they planned to get away with all this was beyond her, but the way it was set up was almost brilliant. There was no way out for her. With the way the stadium was mapped out, she could see Myers with one peek over the counter. He'd definitely be able to see movement from his position, plus there was a security guard to her right a few meters away. He was guarding the stairwell.

I can't believe this is happening to me, of all things, why this? I just hope Gwen and Sha are okay, I don't think I could bear losing them. I have to find a way to help. I have to . . . But what can I do? I'm stuck here for the rest of the night . . .


NYC Rooftops

Spider-Man continued to run across the rooftops of Manhattan. It had felt like it had been miles since they left Osborn's mansion. He wasn't making any progress on catching up. Whoever this guy was, he was fast. His only hope was that he would be arriving at his destination soon, or he would lose him.

His feet were hurting and his arms were pounding. He had gotten more of a workout here than he did fighting the Lizard! But he had to keep going for his best friend.

Finally, Spider-Man caught eye of a tall tower. It looked as if it had been abandoned for a while now. Spider-Man saw the figure disappear into the dark of the building's shadow. It had to be where he hid out; all Spider-Man had to do now was crash the party.

Toomes Tower

. . . Or what used to be Toomes Tower. This place had been the building for the Toomes foundation through all generations! Thanks to Norman Osborn, the bottom floor was being used as an ice cream shop while the rest was left to be bought out. It was actually planned on being turned into a multistory mall, but that has yet to take place.

On the top floor, Harry hit the ground hard. He was not tied or strapped to anything, but was just thrown into the room. However, if he even tried to runaway, he'd have to first see through the darkness. The only source of light now was the moon that barely shone through the windows. The light was soon blocked as a man walked in front of the windows.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Harry pleaded.

"I want what is rightfully mine!" the man responded.

"And kidnapping me is going to help?"

"If it's one thing your father loves more than his work, it's you. So, I'm giving him that dilemma."

"My father? Wha . . .? Toomes . . ."

"Not Toomes, Harry . . . The Vulture!"

Suddenly the lights turned on, causing Harry to quickly shade his eyes. As they adjusted, Toomes revealed himself. He wore a dark green suit that hugged his form. Around his neck was a black device that connected to his silver, metallic wings through wires. The end of the wing then connected to his black gloves, allowing him to steer. The wings were of a thin, lightweight metal. They easily contracted and formed to how he moved his arms, and were as sharp as a razor.

"The Vulture?" Harry asked.

"Toomes was weak compared to Norman Osborn. I needed something to strike fear into his heart. So I stole something of his, and changed it to my liking! These wings were a project of a gliding technology he has been working on." Toomes continued as Harry listened in horror, "You're father is amazing you know? The ability to defy gravity in a small compact space, well, he asked for it when he stole my company. He wants to talk about living with vultures, let's see how he deals with this one!"

Unknown to the two in the room, Spider-Man listened from the air vent above. He may not have had his web shooters, but he still had his powers.

The things crazy people do for revenge . . . Okay, I should plan this out carefully. It's not like I can just jump out and start webbing the place up.

Spider-Man slightly moved his foot, and he heard a crack.

Spider-Man's head started to tingle, and Harry and Vulture looked to the ceiling.

"Crap." Spider-Man said aloud.

Suddenly, the whole air vent collapsed through the ceiling, and Spider-Man crashed through, falling to floor below.

"What is this?" Vulture yelled in anger.

Spider-Man slowly got up, holding his back, "You know you really should get someone to look at that, it's very unstable . . ."

"Spider-Man, how dare you . . ."

"Don't even start it bird-brain!" Spider-Man interrupted, " you don't know what I've been through just to get here, now if you'd just let the poor kid go, this would go so much more smoothly."

Vulture lunged toward Spider-Man.

"I didn't think so . . ." He said as he dodged his attack.

"I don't need anyone butting into my business!" He said, turning to Spider-Man.

Suddenly, Spider-Man's spider-sense went berserk.

What the heck is going on? My head . . .

They were caught off guard just then, as the whole top floor blew up in flames . . .


Meanwhile . . .

The squad arrived at Madison Square Garden, easier than they expected. George Stacy immediately got out of his car, and gave orders to his squad.

"DeWollfe, take your Red team, get the front entrance; Macendale, Blue, gather the back; Carter, yellow, head for the second floor, and green, follow me through the locker room, we may be able to surprise them from behind. Wait for my signal . . ."

"Maybe we should call in the Navy." One cop joked to another.

"Maybe you should, my daughter's in there, now get going!" Stacy commanded.

The place spread out, while Flash exited the car, finally holding back the urge to throw up. He ran to Captain Stacy, "Wait, what I do?"

"Stay back and wait!" Stacy Commanded just before leading his team into the stadium.

"You are kidding, right?" Flash said to himself.

Front Entrance

The place was completely shut down. All lights were off for the stadium, except for the one small light following Myers on the stage. After the team sneaked through the front entrances where no one was present, each group headed for their assigned positions. George Stacy held his pistol and flashlight, and led five men into the locker rooms, which he knew would lead out to the stage.

"Okay men, careful, don't get spotted, there's no telling what these guys will do. They have guns, and they have hostages. We don't want this to be a massacre."

They nodded their heads in agreement, not wanting any blood on their hands.

Parking Lot

Flash paced back and forth. Constantly going over the words Liz last said to him. It's funny, all he wanted to do was call and make up, she then turned it into a break up conversation, and then suddenly he's put into this position.

He held his phone in his hand, staring over a picture of her he had.

"This is stupid! I am NOT waiting out here while Liz is in danger."

He ran up to the stadium's front entrance, and peeked through the glass doors. Nothing was seen; even the cops themselves established a nice, quiet entry. Flash intended to do the same.


Toomes Tower

Spider-Man slowly opened his eyes. He heard some loud laughs and the strange noise of anti-gravity devices making quick turns in the air. There was also explosions, taunts, and many other strange noises in the air. Another thing Spider-Man quickly noticed was the clarity of his right eye. The whole top right portion of his mask was blown off from the explosion, as well as other parts of his costume. He realized this as he slowly got up from the debris.

As he looked up and finally took in his surroundings, he noticed the whole front wall of the building was gone, and the support that it gave the ceiling, was quickly fading. He also caught sight of two flying figures fighting in mid-air – the Vulture and another unknown masked man.

Great, just what I need . . .

He looked over to the left and saw Harry, who luckily dodged some debris from the explosion, but was nevertheless still out from the shock.

Spider-Man jumped over, unknown to the two fighters up above, and picked up Harry, holding him over his shoulder. He carried him to the far side of the building that was more structured, and safe to lie under. After he laid him down in the corner, He ran out to see what the commotion was all about.

As he looked up, he saw Vulture do a quick shift to his left to avoid a small bomb that exploded moments after it passed him. The man who threw the bomb was covered in a green skin-tight outfit. He wore a purple top, gloves, and belt. What caught Spider-Man's attention was his face. The mask over the villain was of a menacing stare. The smile, the bright yellow eyes – it brought horror to Spider-Man's mind. He stood on a piece of gliding technology, similar to what Vulture had.

The fight was intense as Vulture used his sharp blades to try and end the fight quickly, but missed.

"I don't know who you are, where you got your technology, but you are trespassing on my property!" Vulture exclaimed.

The man laughed menacingly, "You think that that I care about your property?" He let out another laugh as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard, "Trust me, old man, the only thing I'm here for is you!"

"Why? Who are you?"

"Call me, the Green Goblin, and as for why, that's confidential." the Goblin said as he pulled out another bomb from the pockets strapped around his thigh.

Vulture backed up, and folded his arms, covering his entire body with his wings as a bat. As soon as the Goblin threw the orange pumpkin bomb, Vulture opened his arms quickly. The second layer of Toomes' wings launched from his arsenal. The twenty-plus blades ripped through the bomb, causing premature explosion. This caused an enormous amount of smoke to form high in the sky.

Vulture waited for him to come back with an attack, or for the smoke to clear so he could see his impaled body lie dead on his glider.

His answer was immediately answered with the sinister laugh that was coming toward him. The Goblin flew at fast speeds through the smoke, and into the Vulture, sending him flying through the air uncontrollably. Vulture then signaled a retreat as he quickly turned back, and used his turbo boost to send him away from the tower. Little known to him, however, a small silver spider stuck to his boot.

Spider-Man threw the perfect strike while Vulture lied still in the air, waiting for the Goblin's attack. He wasn't one for watching a fight, but he was clearly mismatched, and without his web shooters, there was no way he was going to stand a chance. Just as the Goblin flew away, he noticed Harry starting to come along in the corner of the room.

"hmm, hrrmm, Spider-Man?" Harry mumbled.

Spider-Man saluted him, and then jumped off of the building.


Madison Square Garden

"People, People, People! You do know this is a one of a kind show! A once in a lifetime experience!" Myers yelled over the microphone, "I mean, how many people can say I was held hostage at Madison Square Garden? I mean, right? Plus, this is way better than any Knicks game, you have to agree with me there, right?"

Gwen and Sha Shan sat still in their seats, not making a move, not making a sound. They were worried about Liz more than anything, who they haven't seen since she took the call upstairs.

"Come on, guys, our barrels are just about full and we can get the hell outta here! Road trip!" Myers yelled out.

Meanwhile, in the locker room . . .

"Geez, does this guy ever shut up?" One of the cops said

"What's that smell?" Another one added.

"Were in a locker room, what do you expect?"

"Well a little febreeze couldn't hurt." He responded.

"Oh my gosh!" Another cop mocked.

"Will you all shut up? I'm about to give the signal . . ." Captain Stacy ordered to his men as he peeked out to the stadium's stage, "Is everyone in position?" he asked over his handheld radio.

After hearing the response from the three teams, all giving him a "yes", they prepared to take down the criminal band.

"Okay, move in!" Stacy said.

The team moved in through the locker room, heading out onto the basketball court or what is now the stage. Once they entered, they were greeted with a flash of lights that immediately turned on.

"Well, look what we have here!" Myers said, walking down off the stage toward the locker room entrance, "The famous NYPD, don't tell me you didn't think we expected you. I mean, it's pretty hard to take so many people hostage at once in one of the biggest landmarks of New York and not keep it quiet."

Stacy stared the man down and studied him. This was no average ordinary criminal just wanting to make a few bucks. This plot was well planned out, and well designed. He obviously had lots of resources and men to pull off this job, but that wasn't going to stop Captain Stacy from saving his daughter.

"Come on, Captain, join the party and call off your men that are lingering behind you . . ."

"You're a clever man, Myers, I'll give you that, but there's one thing you overlooked."

"What's that?"

"Back-up." Stacy said.

Suddenly, several clicks of guns were heard surrounding the stage. The three teams all took position and pointed their weapons at the security guards keeping the stadium hostage. They immediately dropped their weapons and held their hands in the air.

"Please, Stacy, so you outnumbered us and took away my gunmen? You're just as naïve as you are intrusive for interrupting my show! No, this is far from over . . ."

"In what way, Myers? We've surrounded the stadium, taken your firepower, and saved these civilians."

"There's more than one reason we're called the Boomerangs." He said menacingly.

Myers then pulled out two red boomerangs that were strapped to his legs. Stacy knew what was going to come up next; He quickly ran up to the stage and ducked behind one of the speakers while Myers began his attack. Stacy dodged the boomerangs as they were aimed at him, and as they came back. Myers was an expert boomerang thrower though. It was a constant launching of attacks by Myers. When Stacy finally found a safe spot, he called on his men once again.

"The security guards have given up, take them into custody and start evacuating the crowd, I don't want them in the midst of this fight." Stacy said over his radio.

Then one row at a time, the crowd began to empty their seats and head for the exits quickly.

Boomerang didn't care much for the crowd leaving. Even though his men were chicken enough to stand down to the cops, he only had one in his way, and three barrels of gold and silver that he could escape with. How he was going to do that was beyond Stacy, but he somehow was able to take all of thousands of people hostage, so anything is possible.

Stacy drew his gun and poked around the corner of his speaker. Myers held his two weapons in his hand waiting for the moment to strike.

"These boomerangs pack a punch old man, sure you can take it?"

"I have a .45 in my hand, think you can take it?"

"Too true, maybe it's time for a home field advantage." Myers snickered. Suddenly, all the lights in the stadium were shut down. The place was practically pitch black, except for the flashlights held by Stacy's cops, who continued to lead people out of the stadium.

"He must have a man in the control room. That would explain how he controlled security and saw us come through the locker room. Someone needs to take him out." Stacy said over his radio.

Meanwhile, outside in the halls of the stadium, DeWollfe answered Stacy's call, "Captain, everyone's evacuating, I'm almost finished with my section. Civilian safety is our top priority."

"I know . . ." Captain Stacy mumbled.

Flash, however, was sneaking through the stadium, and overheard the captain on another officer's radio. He listened in on their conversation and immediately went into action.

He ran down the stadium halls and saw a glimmer of light coming from another hall. The security room would be the only room that he didn't shut off. Flash hooked a right and reached the security door.

Meanwhile, down on the stage, Stacy continued to trade off chatter with Myers.

"I don't really see how this is home field advantage. It's hard for you to see as well."

"Stacy, Stacy . . . in all of my years down in Australia, I practiced my boomerangs during the day . . . and hunted at night."

Suddenly, his voice began to come from another direction. George Stacy kept his head on a swivel as the maniac kept talking.

"My senses have adapted to the dark to the point where I can practically sense something in front of me. I've hunted everything from rabbits to kangaroos with these weapons . . ." His voice shifted again, ". . . and now I've got a nervous cop in my sights.

Back in the security room, Flash entered slowly. Immediately he knew he was in the right place when several bodies lay on the floor all the way down to the computers. He saw the shadow of a man sitting at the desk, watching the security feed. Due to the night vision on the computer, he could easily see Stacy hiding out behind the speaker. All he had to do was tell Myers where to go.

Flash looked to his left and took a fire extinguisher off the wall; he softly stepped toward the man doing the behind the scenes work.

"Okay Myers, just take a few more steps to your right, and then . . ." the man whispered through his comlink.

"Not so fast." Flash interrupted.

The man at the computer quickly turned around. He was somewhat old, proven by his balding head and wrinkles. He wore glasses and was scared to death to see the person standing there.

"How did you get . . ." the man started to ask, but before Flash could even take a good look at the man, he hit him on the head with the extinguisher, knocking him out cold.

He ran to the computers quickly, looking for some kind of button for the lights. When he looked on screen, Myers was approaching Stacy.

"Come on . . . come on . . ." Flash murmured to himself.

Finally he stumbled upon the lighting switches and cranked them all up.

The Stage

". . . and now I've got a nervous cop in my sights." Myers said as he approached the Captain, holding his boomerang as a sword. He listened for his guide's next words, but heard none.

"Phineas . . ." He whispered, "Phineas . . ."

Suddenly, the lights flashed on, and Myers was blinded. Captain Stacy was shook by the immediate change, but was still able to see Myers just a couple of yards away from him. Stacy quickly took this opportunity to tackle him down to the ground, and cuff him before his could regain his sense of vision.

"Mason! You son of a . . ." he was cut off quickly by Stacy who told him to shut up.

Captain Stacy's radio began to go off, "Captain?" It was Jean Dewolffe, making sure the arrest went okay.

"Dewolffe, Myers is contained, and as I can see, you've done an excellent job clearing out the stadium, just a few more remain."

"Thank you, Captain, I will send two officers to take Myers off your hands." Dewolffe responded.

"Okay, who was the person who turned the lights on?" Captain asked.

"Actually, Captain, you're never gonna believe who it was." Dewolffe responded.

Outside MSG, minutes later . . .

George Stacy stood by Flash Thompson as they watched the officers put Fred Myers and Phineas Mason into their cars.

"Looks like Myers wasn't the great hunter he said he was."

"I guess not." Flash said with a small laugh under it.

"Flash, I have to commemorate you for what you did tonight."

"I know you told me to stay outside, but I had friends in there, and I wasn't going to stand back and wait."

"I know, and I'm glad you didn't. But even though you were a little stubborn about it, you showed perseverance, and a motive to do the right thing. I honor you for that, especially at your age. The police force could use someone like you." Stacy said, putting his hand on Flash's shoulder.

Soon enough Gwen and Liz came running up.

"Daddy!" Gwen shouted out as she leaped into his arms.

"Gwen . . . I'm so glad you're safe!" He said to her as he hugged her back.

"I'm glad you're okay!" She said in return.

"Well, I have your friend Flash to thank for that." Stacy said, smiling, "He really was the true hero for tonight. He called me, worried about his friends. He broke a few orders, but it ended up doing good in the end."

"Flash Thompson – you can't even do good without breaking the rules." Gwen said jokingly.

"Hey, whatever works right?" He said with a smirk on his face. After a moment, he turned and looked at Liz. She was curled up in a jacket, probably still scared from the whole event.

Gwen decided to break the few moments of awkward silence, "Well, I should probably take Sha Shan back home, her parents are probably worried about her, I don't think she has a cell phone."

"No way, Miss Stacy, after tonight, I think I'll be taking you three girls and Flash home." Captain Stacy said.

Gwen smiled before her father put his arm around her shoulder, and walked her away, leaving Flash and Liz to themselves. Liz kept her head down most of the time, not really knowing how to respond.

"Nice job, Flash . . ." she said.

"It was nothing . . ." He replied simply, "so . . . just curious, I mean the phone call . . ."

"Don't . . ." Liz interrupted, "Listen, it's been a long night, I'm just going to go home, I'll . . . I'll talk to you later . . ."

Flash nodded in respect to her, "Okay . . . bye."

Liz turned and walked away, cuddling under her jacket as if it was winter.

Parker Household

It was late. Aunt May was already fast asleep in her bedroom. Peter had to sneak through the front door and upstairs once again. He was already grounded, if Aunt May found out he was out, he was bound to get a worse punishment.

Once he reached his room. He closed his door silently, took off his shirt, and fell back on his bed with a huge smile on his face.

Yes! This is so awesome . . . the weekend is here! I have that stupid test at school on a Saturday due to stupid Octavius' schedule, but after that, it's all me and Mary Jane Watson.

Yeah, I called her on the way home, and asked her out. I'm not very fond of blind dates, but Aunt May really wants to hook me up with her obviously. Sometimes I think she's trying to marry me off.

Nah, she's been friends with her Aunt Anna for years. She's actually mentioned Mary Jane a couple times, I never really took attention to it until now where she decided to play matchmaker. Well, least I could do is trust her judgment.

Besides . . . it looks like Gwen ain't going to be coming around anytime soon, so I might has well take advantage of this opportunity. She did go to that concert tonight in downtown New York. I wonder if she enjoyed it.

Plus there were those two freaks that were fighting. I know Vulture. He was Adrian Toomes wanting revenge on Harry's father. I feel so bad for Harry being caught up in this whole thing. But I really want to know what's up with the other Goblin guy. He had a nice taste in character. I mean between the devil-like appearance and joker-like laugh . . . but for real, his appearance was almost too much of a coincidence. I wonder what he has to do with this.

Man, I'm so tired . . . and so glad that Aunt May didn't catch me sneaking out . . .


THE NEXT DAY

Empire State University

Nobody liked coming in on a Saturday, especially for a difficult test such as Octavius'. Half the students didn't even get a chance to study. But due to Octavius' rules, you had better show up for the test or it could seriously hurt your grade.

Peter entered the lobby and was surprised with all the excitement going on. He walked over to Liz, Gwen, and Flash immediately who were sitting down on the left wall of the lobby. Liz and Flash sat on opposite sides of a couch, while Gwen sat on the other couch. He could feel the tension between them all. They were the only three in the room who weren't talking.

"Guys, I heard about what happened at the stadium this morning. My aunt told me. Are you guys all right?" Peter said, worrying about his friends.

"Yeah we're alright, Peter, just still taking it all in." Gwen said, scooting over on the couch, inviting Peter to sit down by her. However, his attention shifted to the Daily Bugle newspaper lying on the table.

"No way . . ." Peter said to himself.

Gwen showed disappointment in her face as Peter didn't even notice her. He didn't mean to though, but he was pretty upset from what he saw in the paper.

"They published it!" He said aloud to himself.

"What?" Liz said quietly, showing she had been deep in thought.

"You know the big hole in the wall over there?" Peter asked.

Liz looked back and saw a half repaired wall with caution tape and cones around it, which were used to refrain students from touching the wall.

"Yeah, what about it?" she asked.

"Here's how it got there." Peter said as he handed her the newspaper, "Page 3, second paragraph."

Liz read it out loud, "ESU's Reptilian Rampage by Eddie Brock"

"Reptiles?" Flash said, leaning in to try and read the paper.

"Continue . . ." Peter said, clearly upset with it.

"Earlier this week, there was a disturbance at the college of Empire State University. A lot of people had questions on what really happened that night. It has turned out that Dr. Curtis Connors, a leading scientist with an amputated right arm, was experimenting with reptilian DNA. Not having anything to test on, he experimented on himself. The DNA reacted with his body in a way that it turned him into a giant size reptile.

The reptile was subdued partly thanks to the untimely help of Spider-Man. What really scared the Lizard away was the wall of cops that showed up on the scene. It later ran into the subway where citizens say it was hit by a train. No one knows how Dr. Connors survived the hit, but he is safely back in his apartment for now. Spider-Man's interference is still being looked in to, and what ESU's fate after this event is a mystery."

Liz ended on the period.

"Dr. Connors?" Gwen said in surprise.

"I can't believe it." Liz said.

"What is ESU's fate after this event? Really? I wonder what?" Shouted Warren as he walked through the lobby with Dr. Octavius.

"Apparently Warren isn't taking this reveal too well . . ." Flash said.

"No doubt . . ." Peter said.

"How did you know about Connors?" Gwen asked.

"I work at the Bugle. I heard that Brock had picked something up on this and I didn't want him to publish it because I knew it would give ESU and Connors a bad name."

"Yeah, but Connors destroyed school property, doesn't he deserve some blame?" Flash asked.

"Well, yeah, but ESU shouldn't be held accountable for one mistake by a scientist." Peter responded, "I mean everyone makes mistakes, especially in the science world. Success never comes without a few failures."

Octavius then caught the attention of the crowd, "Class, Please begin filling in your seats in my room, we will begin testing in five minutes."

"Oh great . . ." Flash said as he stood up and followed everyone into the classroom, "We're all going to fail this stupid test."

As Liz stood up, she winked and flashed Gwen a smile before she converged herself with the crowd.

Gwen knew exactly what Liz was referring too, and knew she had a quick decision to make. As the crowd shuffled out of the room, Gwen made her decision.

"Peter!" Gwen said, as Peter was beginning to follow the crowd.

"Yeah, Gwen?" He turned and responded.

"Hey Pete, um . . . you know, after the whole concert thing last night . . . It really made me think."

"About what? Are you okay?" Peter asked, caring for his friend.

"Yeah, at least, as fine as I'm going to be, but . . . while I was in that stadium. I was afraid. I had so many things going through my head. Things I want to accomplish, all the friends I have and well, I guess my life flashed before my eyes in a way.

Peter continued to listen to Gwen; this was obviously something that was important to her.

"But . . . of all those things, there was one thing that constantly kept going through my head, no matter what I went to, my mind returned to one thing . . ."

"What?" Peter asked.

"You . . ." Gwen said with a quiver in her voice, showing her nervousness.

Peter's eyes widened with astonishment. However, on the inside, he felt a punch to his gut that made him feel sick.

"Me?"

"Yes . . . I know I denied the fact that I was looking for someone, but I think now I was just hiding in my past, but now . . . I'm ready to move on, and you're the person I want to move on with."

Peter was still in amazement. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was something he has wanted to hear ever since his first day at Empire State.

"So, Peter . . . what do you say?" Gwen asked.

Next Chapter: Just Business, Part 3