The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Fourteen

By

Jason Richard

"You know," said Peter. "Normally I'd be happy to have a free period, but not to honor Flash Thompson."

For sure enough Flash was strutting smugly across the stage with the rest of his football goons while the crowd of students cheered them on."

"Yeah," said Harry. "I know. But a free period is a free period either way."

"Way to look on the brightside Harry," said Gwen.

"You got that right," said Peter. Suddenly his cell phone rang. He pulled it out and it said, "Aunt May."

"Excuse me," he said, walking off. He answered when he was outside the gym.

"Hey Aunt May," he said. "What's up?"

"Peter," said Aunt May, sounding like she had something difficult to say. "Your uncle…"

Peter didn't' like the tone in her voice. "What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong with Uncle Ben?"

"He's…" she answered. "There's a bank robbery and…"

"Whoa, whoa," said Peter. "Slow down. What does Uncle Ben have to do with the robbery? I mean it's not like he…"

The truth hit him in the face harder than any of Kraven's blows could have, right before Aunt May spoke again.

"He's there," she said. "He's at that bank."

Peter had never been more frightened in his life than he was at that moment.

Now he had to get out of that school.

"It's okay," he told his Aunt, even though he didn't' fully believe it himself. "It's okay, Uncle Ben will be fine. Mr. Stacy is with him, and he won't let anyone get hurt. Alright? There's no need to worry."

He could hear her over the phone, taking deep breaths.

"Yes," she said. "Of course. I know. I'm just so worried…"

"It's alright," said Peter, with some difficulty. "He'll be fine. Thanks for telling me."

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Despite his reassurances he was shaking. He had to get down the bank, soon. However, Peter had been paying attention with his Spider Sense and, despite the vibrations from the construction machines outside, he was able to tell all the places the Doppelganger had placed people.

He had been very thorough.

The exits were guarded, so he couldn't just leave. The lockers and bathrooms were under watch, so he couldn't just grab his gear to change in private, and the fire alarms were under guard, so he couldn't escape in some sort of panic. He tried to enter an empty classroom, but that was locked, so he couldn't change there as well. He really was blocked off from leaving.

But the doppelganger had missed one little detail.

His uncle was a hostage. He could get his stuff and leave, and if anyone asked or noticed he would make an act (where he wouldn't really have to act) of being worried about his uncle. He could slip out and no one would suspect him of being Spiderman. He grinned to himself as he walked off. I can do this, he thought. I can save him, I just need to…

"Peter?"

Peter froze, and then turned around to see Harry.

"What was the call about?" asked Harry.

"Uh," said Peter. "Nothing. Wrong number. I'll be back in a minute, I just need to use the bathroom."

"Okay," said Harry.

They walked away from each other and Peter cursed his bad luck. He couldn't just slip out. If he told Harry and Gwen he went to the robbery Captain Stacy would know if Peter Parker hadn't show up. If he said he went to comfort Aunt May she'd report the same thing. No, he had to find another way out…but with all the security the imposter had put up…

The imposter, the reason he couldn't tell anyone he was Spiderman. Who knows what the doppelganger would do if he found out Gwen and Harry knew his identity. If they got hurt because of him he could never forgive himself. That being said if he didn't get to the bank on time he'd never forgive himself for that either.

He walked past the bathroom and told himself to calm down. First thing's first, he figured. He had to get his Spiderman suit and web shooters. Once that was done he'd find a way out. One step at a time.

Besides, he had time. Captain Stacy wasn't going to let anything happen to his uncle.

….

BANG!

Captain Stacy heard the shot from over the phone, and clenched the fist of his free hand in anger, though took deep breaths to remain calm.

"That was one hostage," said the crook over the phone. "Get your cops out of my sight and the others will be fine. Oh, and I know you probably have snipers out there, I want those gone as well."

Click.

Captain Stacy didn't like this, not one bit. He would make certain to keep his men out of sight, but he wasn't ready to give up just yet. Worse come to worse he would have to send the swats in to flush them out. Considering how violent these guys were he couldn't leave the hostages in their care for another hour, regardless of their threats. He didn't like this though, not one bit. He tried to keep it out of his mind that Ben Parker was in there. He couldn't afford to let himself be emotionally compromised after all, but there was one thing that was eating away at him.

Where was Spiderman in all of this?

….

Two guys patrolling the hallway lockers. They were young enough to pass for high school seniors but they were actually eighteen, and had criminal records…along with tranquilizer guns hidden in their jackets.
Suddenly the lights in the hall went off, one by one.

While one of them went to check it out, Peter snuck by the other on the ceiling. He crawled to his locker and quickly, with one finger sticking to the dial, undid the lock, silently opened it, took out his backpack, and closed the locker. In a moment he was crawling away. As the lights came back one he took one more look at the guy he had snuck past.

He was putting on those heat goggles.

As Peter just barely made it out of range he realized he was more trapped than he had thought. He had been thinking about using stealth webbing to pull the fire alarm, but if the doppelganger's cronies had heat vision that was problematic. He dropped and hid in a corner, once again cursing his terrible luck. His stealth webbing was invisible to the naked eye, but it would show up on heat goggles.

After all, the chemical reaction to create stealth webbing from web fluid involved heat.

"Now what?" he asked himself

….

"Anything yet?" Dmitri asked over a hidden receiver in his ear. He sat in the principal's office, and at that moment he was out of his disguise, his principle mask laying on the desk.

"Nothing yet sir," came the voice of a sniper Dmitri had hired. The sniper was currently sitting in the school gym, hidden in the rafters above and watching with heat vision goggles. He had a tranquilizer rifle ready for when the Spider showed himself.

"And you?" asked Dmitri, changing frequency.

"Nothing," said one of the men in a construction uniform guarding the outside of the school. "He's keeping quite."

"He's taking his time to make his move," said Dmitri, arranging chess pieces on a board to amuse himself. "Smart overall, but he's on a timer, so he has to move soon. Keep an eye out."

"Yes sir."

"You're move Spider," said Dmitri, grinning. The white king on the board was completely surrounded by black pieces.

….

As Peter snuck through the school with his backpack, using his Spider Sense to track the vibrations of his enemy's footsteps and slip by them, he wondered how he was going to get out. The lockers were one thing. There were so many of them that it was impossible to watch all of them at once, but the exits and the fire alarms were another story. No way Peter could get close to those without revealing himself. There was at least one man for each of those, and they all had heat vision.

Having to keep moving he didn't have time to change into Spiderman either. He thought about just putting the mask on, but didn't think that was a viable option. If this Doppelganger was really this good, like a spy or something, he might figure who Spiderman was by his clothing. Peter still needed a way out undetected.

Peter decided on the fire alarm, as it would give him plenty of cover, and give Harry and Gwen a chance to escape as well. The safer they were the better. Still, how to do it? He could use his steel webbing, with used cold temperatures in its chemical reaction, but that had the opposite problem. Everyone would see that, and he'd be given away.

He clenched his fist as he hid in a corner for a tiny moment. He was running out of time. Uncle Ben needed him. So, which to use? The Stealth Webbing, or the Steele Webbing?

Then it hit him.

Why not use both?

He headed for the gym, still avoiding the sentries. He'd have to get this just right, otherwise it could blow up in his face, but if it worked…he grinned. It would get everyone out, and he'd be on his way to Uncle Ben.

….

Dmitri was getting tired of waiting. He knew the Spider had to make a move soon. From the police radio two hostages were already dead, and more would follow. So far the police had been unable to make a move, though he didn't know the details on that. The Spider would have to do it…if he could escape the Chameleon's net.

Finally, Dmitri's wait was over.

"Sir!" shouted one of the snipers. "I see a line in the heat vision!"

The invisible webbing! Dmitri thought. "Quick," he said loudly. "Shoot him!"

"I can't sir!" came the befuddled reply. "He's not at the other end of the line!"

What trickery was this…Dmitri thought. Suddenly the school's fire alarm sounded. Naturally the students would be escaping the gym in a panic with the Spider hidden among them. Dmitri cursed in Russian and grabbed his principle mask.

….

The gym was empty, and Dmitri, disguised as the principle, found the line of stealth webbing, tracing it back from the fire alarm to a web shooter webbed to the underside of the gym's bleachers. Meanwhile a visible strand of webbing was attached to the inner mechanism, along with two others attached to the sides of the device, and they trailed along behind the bleachers. Dmitri could have laughed. So that's how the Spider had done it.

He had stuck the web shooter there at just the right angle so that when he tugged on the first strand it would trigger the device and hit the fire alarm. Then, using the other strands, he twisted the device to pull the alarm. And impossible shot for a normal human being, but for one with the enhanced senses of a Spider, and possibly a good knowledge of the physics involved, it would be possible for Spiderman to do it.

Dmitri didn't have to touch the visible webbing to know it was the steel cold webbing that Sergei had encountered, and it was easy to figure out what had happened. No one saw the invisible strand, and the visible one was hidden behind the bleachers. Meanwhile the sniper could see the stealth webbing, but the cold webbing was invisible to him, so he didn't get an accurate fix on the Spider's location in time, even though he was an angle to shoot anyone under the bleachers. The Spider may have sacrificed one of his web shooters, but he had done so to get out unnoticed.

Well played Spider, thought Dmitri, musing to himself. You outwitted the infamous Chameleon. Well done. However, you took your time to do it, and time is off the essence given where you are headed. People have already died, so I wonder if you will get there on time to save anyone else.

With that Dmitri, the Chameleon, departed from the school

….

Meanwhile Spiderman, with but a single web shooter on his wrist, swung as fast as he could towards the bank robbery. He was not going to get his uncle die. He told himself that over and over.

Uncle Ben, he thought, I'm coming for you.