Chapter Nine: A Not So Normal Life

A/N: Guess whose back guys?! Holy shit! I'm sorry for not updating for TWO YEARS. Man I really felt bad considering the amount of support you guys have given me! 166 favourites and 195 follows?! I'd be insane not to continue this story. Again, I'm so sorry about the Two years! I have recently finished this and the tenth chapter and i'm currently working on the 11th!

I love you guys! I guess you can consider this a Christmas gift from me to you!

Let's get on with the long awaited update!

"This just in, a video has surfaced about the bank robbery fight that had occurred in the financial district of Manhattan. The video was uploaded on Utube and received over 500 million views within the first day. No one knows exactly who these three are however, the two individuals shown wearing masks of Avengers members were the heroes according to the description below the video. Many New Yorkers are voicing their concerns as two weeks ago the Avengers were blamed for causing 349 deaths of Egyptian civilians during an operation in the Nile River."

"Following up with the Avengers, the UN has decided to hold a meeting regarding the Avengers organization and whether or not they should have the power to operate in said countries as they please. These discussions will begin next month on the 10th."

XXX

"I can't believe you didn't delete the back up…" Peter slapped his head, feeling a little headache sneaking up on him.

Felicia and Mr. Hardy had left around half an hour ago after dinner as Felicia's mother was just as worried. Peter had apologized for the crappy date but the young woman told him it wasn't his fault and was glad he was safe and worried about her. Mr. Hardy on the other hand…

"Peter… Thank you for keeping my daughter safe. But… I need to ask you a favour. Both you and your brother. After school tomorrow, can you two come see me? I'll explain everything tomorrow. Thank you" Was what Mr. Hardy had said. He didn't want to ask any questions during that time. He could tell everyone was a bit exhausted, and who wouldn't be after that?

"I'll be honest I didn't think people would actually use a cloud backup nowadays. Especially with how easy it is to hack into" Callum defended; however, his brother only shook his head. "I mean, on the bright side no one knows who we are"

"No… Mr. Hardy does…" Peter sighed and his brothers posture stiffened.

"Wait what?! How?!" Callum asked nervously.

"Well… He only knew it was me… But I assume he's smart enough to figure out who the other one is" Peter answered and it was Callum's turn to face palm. "Also, I was wearing the same clothes and he's one of the only people who knows about the web shooters."

*THWIP*

"Looks like you two were busy this weekend" A familiar voice came from their window. The two brothers turned their heads to see Gwen Stacy in her peculiar costume. Without even asking, the young girl invited herself in and sat on a nearby available chair. "You guys are really going viral huh?"

"It wasn't on purpose" Peter answered as his eyes maneuvered to her hands where he saw a familiar gadget on her wrist. "Are those our web-shooters?!" Peter pointed at the gadget, very similar in appearance only difference was the colour which was made to fit in with her costume.

Callum leaned to the side to see and indeed those were the ones they made. Only for him, he was more impressed than shocked. "Whoa… How the hell did you make those?"

"You do realize I'm just as smart as you two, and have access the science room, right?" Gwen said, narrowing her eyes at the two, feeling a little but insulted they would undermine her intelligence. "I just did some easy reverse engineering, and it wasn't really that hard."

"Fair enough I guess." Peter said in defeat. He and his brother know very well of Gwen's intelligence. When she was still in Midtown high the three were essentially unstoppable in the scientific field. Multiple awards, and honorary mentions. They still do, although to a lesser extent. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"Well, at first I was coming over to ask you about my problem. And then I saw your little tag team match on Utube." Gwen started. "I thought you said you would never use your powers Peter"

"That was different…" Peter answered scratching his head. Gwen raised an eyebrow to that; she did not seem to like that answer. She proceeded to take her mask off to accentuate the displeasure in her eyes.

"So, you'd use your powers for people you don't know, rather than for my dad?" Gwen asked. Peter flinched and stiffened his posture. That's not what he meant at all, but he could understand why she would think that. Callum rubbed the bridge of his nose, knowing this was going to go south… Again.

"You know that's not what I mean!" Peter shot back lightly irritated that she would even think like that. "I was in a situation where I needed to use my powers. If that situation had not shown itself—"

"You would let innocent people get hurt?" Gwen interrupted. Those words felt like a sword going through Peter's stomach. Callum also flinched and his usual happy-go-lucky attitude faded; replaced with a saddened look.

"N-No… It's just…" Peter started but couldn't figure out how to use his words.

"What are you so afraid of Peter? Both of you" Gwen asked giving confused looks to both of the brothers. "These kids, teens, adults, and elderly… All of these people saw that video and considered you heroes!" Gwen took out her phone and scrolled to the comment section of the video. Indeed, many people were excited that there were new heroes to protect the city. However, Peter also noticed the doubts of people in the comments.

"Yeah… The ones who doubt us are very, very convincing" Peter retorted and Gwen replied with a loud groan.

"Peter… Those are the Avengers… They are not you! You two, could change the city for the better!" Gwen kept on trying to convince the older brother. She didn't need to convince Callum as she knows his mind was a lot more open, but wouldn't agree unless his brother would… Talk about a brother's keeper.

"Peter… Just help me do this one thing for my dad. Once you do…" Gwen took a deep breath. "I won't ever ask you to use your powers ever again. I'll stop bringing it up"

Peter and Callum looked up at her. She was really desperate for help. Callum got up from his bed and took Peter's arm, dragging him out to the hallway. "Hey! Hey! Calm down!" Peter exclaimed as Callum ignored him and pulled him out.

"Hey, Pete… I really think we should help her out." Callum started, whispering as quiet as possible so Gwen couldn't hear.

"Callum I—"

"I mean look at her, she looks so stressed out. I mean, we have to help her. Mr. Stacey is one of the nicest guys we've ever met. How can we not help him? He's practically family!" Callum continued, forgetting that they were supposed to be quiet.

"Callum. I was going to say yes" Peter answered with a smile.

Callum had his mouth open, and felt slightly embarrassed he blurted all that out. "Oh… Why didn't you say so?!"

"Ugh…" Peter groaned, brushing past his brother and back into the room with Callum following in behind him. "Hey Gwen so we—WHOA" As Peter began and entered the room he was greeted with a great big hug from the young blonde girl.

"You work really, fast don't you?" Callum deadpanned only to get a glare from his older brother.

"I didn't even say anything yet" Peter said gently pushing Gwen off his body. She looked up to him with sparkling eyes… He forgot how pretty Gwen was, especially since she had let her hair grow longer…

"Well, you two weren't exactly quiet in the hall so…" Gwen explained with the two-brother letting a small chuckle at each other. "Why are you saying yes now?"

"Well… If you heard everything in the hallway… I guess it because we owe your dad a lot. Pretty sure Ben and May would angry with us if didn't help him or you at all." Peter explained, although he was still iffy about the whole superhero thing… Maybe one time wouldn't hurt.

"Well… Thank you… Both of you" Gwen looked at the two, and it felt like a huge burden was lifted off of her shoulders. She gave Peter another big hug and this time held it a little bit longer than usual. Long enough for Callum to sit down on his bed and enjoy this little teen romance drama.

"Um… Gwen?" Peter tapped the blonde's shoulder. He was happy enough to return the embrace but it did feel like it was getting a little awkward, especially when Callum is around. Also, the fact that he wanted to stay completely loyal to Felicia.

"Oh! Hehe… Sorry." Gwen giggled releasing Peter from her grip. Callum turned to the young blonde and pointed at himself.

"Wait, so all I get is a look?" Callum asked jokingly, holding his heart as if he was hurt badly. Gwen couldn't help but chuckle a little at his little antic and walked over to him.

"You know I wouldn't leave you out" Gwen smiled giving a hug, less intimate than Peter's but a hug nonetheless. Callum returned in the same fashion and their hug was a lot quicker than Peter's, not that Callum really minded.

"So, what can we do to help first?" Peter asked. Even though the two agreed to help, they had no starting point. All they knew was that they were looking for a guy named Herman Schultz. Genius engineer, and robber to boot.

"Well… First things first… We need to get you guys proper costumes. Those Avengers masks ain't gonna cut it boys" Gwen said, trying to hold back a bit of laughter. The first time she watched the video, she couldn't stop laughing to the point where her mom asked if she was choking.

"Well… We don't exactly have costumes on hand…" Callum started. The two opened up their closest and most of it was filled with casual wear, with some winter clothing, and a few formal wears. Gwen looked through their clothing and sighed. She knew that their sense of fashion wasn't great, but this was… Yikes…

"Well… I guess a simple hoodie, maybe some gloves and a mask would do it for now" Gwen suggested. She handed the two a pair of hoodies and a pair of leather gloves for the both of them. "A mask… Maybe a scarf would do…"

"Are you serious? Wearing a scarf? It's like… almost the end of May… I thought we were supposed to not stand out" Peter said, eying his friend suspiciously.

"You're swinging off skyscrapers in the middle of New York…" Gwen answered.

"She has a fair point" Callum agreed. Peter shrugged his shoulders in defeat and took the scarf. The two brothers but on their sweaters and leather gloves, plus the scarf….

"Pfft…" Gwen tried to hold in her laughter, only letting a little out. She couldn't help it, the boys looked ridiculous… It's even better with Peter's deadpan expression in contrast with Callum's relatively playful one. Gwen felt a tear coming up and wiped it as soon as it appeared, trying to get some actual words out. "Y-You… Hrm… Pft… Look great…"

Callum looked at his brother and smiled under his scarf. "Damn, you look just as good as me!" Callum joked. Peter rolled his eyes and lightly slapped his brothers' shoulder. Peter wasted no time taking off the scarf and tossing it onto his bed.

"Ok yea we are not doing that" Peter started not at all satisfied with the aesthetic of their costume. Callum did the same, and as much as he enjoyed it, he didn't want to look like that around the city… Especially with all the kids and their smartphones, and social media.

"Well, what do you guys want to do then?" Gwen asked. The two brothers looked at each other and smiled.

"Don't worry, we can probably figure something out." Peter started.

"Yeah, we built most of our gadgets, so how hard could a costume be?" Callum finished. Gwen didn't have any arguments to that. These two can build some pretty amazing things… She herself made her costume so she can only imagine what these two were capable of.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to it then. We can talk about Herman tomorrow after school" Gwen suggested but the two shook their heads.

"Mr. Hardy wanted to talk to us after school… Can we meet up a little later?" Peter asked.

"Sure… You guys didn't get into trouble, did you?" Gwen asked with concern in her eyes. These two were usually prone to bad things happening to them.

"Nope!" The two said with a smile. Needless to say, it wasn't very convincing to Gwen, but that was their business. The young blonde teen flashed a quick smile before pulling her mask down, and jumped into the frame of the boy's window.

"Try to keep out of trouble okay?" Gwen asked, even though the three of them knew it wasn't going to happen. With a subtle sound of the web-shooter going *THWIMP* Gwen swung away, traversing the small neighbourhood with relative ease.

"I'm still surprised you said yes" Callum started laying down onto his bed. "You were pretty adamant about not doing the whole hero thing"

"It's a one-time thing. Nothing more to it" Peter answered. "The world has enough heroes in it already."

XXX

The weekend flew by for the two brothers, but to them it definitely didn't feel like one. One unwanted event after another. Hopefully for these two, a day in school will make them feel normal again. Most kids wouldn't wish to go back to school but these two sure did.

"I never thought I'd be happy to see this place" Callum smiled, getting off the school bus along with his brother. It was early in the morning and the school yard was bustling with students walking into the school or socializing among friends.

"Yeah, but probably not that part" Peter pointed at the group of jocks with some cheerleaders hanging about. Some of them flexing muscles at each other, the cheerleaders talking amongst each other, giggling. "This looks like a scene from a 1990 teen movie" Peter commented getting a quick chuckle from his brother.

"Speaking of 1990 teen movies, the scene where the pretty girl comes to talk to the outcast nerd is coming up" Callum said subtly pointing at the familiar red-head walking towards his older brother.

"Morning guys" MJ greeted the two with her bright smile. Though she greeted the two, Callum knew this conversation was solely for Peter.

"I'll see you in class okay?" Callum said, patting his brother on the shoulder. Peter responded with a nod of his head, turning back to MJ afterwards.

"Whats up MJ? Kind of odd for you to come and talk to me" Peter bluntly stated. MJ subtly winced at the sentence, not because it hurt, but the fact that he actually said it.

"What? Can't I come say to one of my childhood friends?" MJ asked giving a playful slap on his arm.

"No, nothing wrong with that. It just seems a little odd is all." Peter answered. Like he said, MJ would rarely come talk to them publicly. He sorts of understood why. His standing in the social ladder isn't what you call high, and MJ on the other hand was pretty much the queen. It was clear as day, especially since he could feel students around him, especially the Flash mob stare at them.

"Well… I wanted to ask if you were free after school" MJ said, and this sentence surprised the young lad. "I mean if you aren't. Are you free tomorrow?"

Peter had already promised Gwen that he and Callum would help her out, but he figured that he could probably do tomorrow. "Why am I thinking about this so hard? I already have a girlfriend… It's just me and MJ hanging out… Like always… Well at least back in the day."

"Yeah, I'm free tomorrow. Is there a particular reason?" Peter asked, noticing the red heads fingers twirling with each other.

"We can talk about that tomorrow" MJ replied with her usual bright smile, a smile that still brought butterflies to Peter's stomach. She hesitated slightly before wrapping her arms around Peter's waist giving him a quick hug, an action the young man did not expect. "Thanks"

Peter would have hugged her back, but the sudden gesture caught him off guard. The pretty red head released her embrace before waving good-bye shyly, lightly jogging into the school with the rest of her pretty friends. All Peter could do was wave back with an awkward smile.

"The movie is starting to get juicy…" Callum whispered startling Peter.

"What the?! Were you listening the entire time?!" Peter asked slightly angry, seeing Callum slightly poking his head out of the corner, watching him with a grin on his face.

"Whaaaat? Of course not." Callum replied walking in the direction of their class. Peter shook his head with an exasperated sigh, not even wanting to question his brother.

Luckily for the brothers, the school day went off without a hitch. No exploding cars, walls being broken, random costumed freaks bursting out trying to harm people. It was a pretty peaceful day.

After school…

The boys were finally finished with their last class which was biology, but the two were sleeping through most of it. In fact, the teacher had saw them sleeping and heard the two snoring, but did nothing. The two had already studied almost all the material they needed to know, so the teacher didn't really care.

The two remembered that Mr. Hardy had asked them to stay after school for a bit. Peter knew it concerned what had happened yesterday. His heart was fluttering as he did not know what to expect. Callum on the other hand felt slightly less nervous, he wasn't with Peter during that situation, so he didn't really know what had happened.

The two made their way to Mr. Hardy's office and peeked through the door window. Mr. Hardy was sitting at his desk tapping his fingers on it, noticing the boys a few seconds later. He raised his hand and beckoned them over.

"Ah, good you two arrived" Mr. Hardy said with a sigh of relief. Peter and Callum walked into his office, as their teacher offered them a seat, which they took.

"What did you want to talk about Mr. Hardy?" Peter asked. It was a dumb question but he asked anyways.

"Well, concerning yesterday's incident… I would like to ask you to keep quiet about it… To Felicia of course" Mr. Hardy pleaded. Peter and Callum looked at each slightly hurt. Why would he think they two would do that? Mr. Hardy was their absolute favourite teacher, he was like a second father to them.

"Mr. Hardy… There would be no way in hell we would tell anyone." Peter reassured, with Callum nodded his head in the background.

"Hahaha… Yeah, I guess I should've known that. But nonetheless I wanted to tell you. Felicia is everything to me… The less she knows about my past, the better" Mr. Hardy said. These words confused Callum, but Peter understood.

"Uh… Am I missing something here?" Callum asked.

"Peter can tell you on the way back home." Mr. Hardy said with a smile. He placed his hands on the two brothers. "Get home safe. And try not to get into trouble"

"No promises" The two said in unison. Mr. Hardy chuckled as he showed the boys out of the room.

"So… What was he talking about?" Callum started, "You know with the whole, about my past thing?"

Peter looked around the neighbourhood so no one could hear them. If anyone heard this, especially anyone from school it might ruin Mr. Hardy's career. "When I was fighting that Shockwavey guy… He was talking to Mr. Hardy. Talking about his past police records, and knowing he can open the vault to the bank."

"Seriously? So… Mr. Hardy used to be a criminal? Like a thief?" Callum said quietly back to his brother.

"I guess so… He also called him Black Cat…" Peter added. The young boy shook his head lightly, "Whether or not its true, Mr. Hardy is basically family. Not going to let that little conversation change my opinion of him."

"You can say that again" Callum agreed. Everything Mr. Hardy has done was always for them or his students. Thief or not, he has a heart of gold.

"We should probably head back home then. Don't want to keep Gwen waiting too long" Peter suggested.

XXX

"Holy crap guys! I've been waiting for 30 minutes!" Gwen yelled, standing in front of their house, her foot tapping on ground showing her irritation.

"Sorry, the walk back took longer than we thought." Peter apologized. Gwen shrugged it off as it was just a small issue.

"Just grab what you guys need okay? The faster we do this, the better" Gwen suggested and the two brothers nodded without any objections.

The brothers rushed into their house and greeted their two loving parents before heading up into their rooms. As they gathered their stuff and changed into more conspicuous clothing, they bolted down the stairs telling May and Ben that they were going out for a bit. Reasons being, they wanted to check out the computer store if they have anything on sale or the owner can give them some freebees.

"Are you two dressing like that?" Gwen asked looking on hoping the answer wasn't yes. The two were wearing black hoodies, black gloves with a black surgical mask. The two looked at each other for a second, before turning back to Gwen and nodding their head in unison.

"Well… One of our objectives was to look intimidating" Peter reasoned.

"Intimidating? You look like you're going to jump someone" Gwen retorted.

"Eh… Whats done is done" Callum said, waving her concerns off.

"Okay…" Gwen solemnly said. "Well let's get going then"

"Wait…" Peter stopped as Gwen took a step forward. "What exactly are we doing today?"

"While you guys were busy fooling around. I did a little digging on Herman Schultz and found one of his hiding spots" Gwen said.

"And how did you exactly come across this information?" Peter asked with a bad feeling circling in his stomach.

"I took my dads laptop." Gwen calmly said. "Look I'll explain more as we head to the location okay?" Gwen said as she started to run. The two didn't' really have a choice and ran after the teenage girl.

It wasn't long till they reached downtown where Gwen had actually told the two to lower those surgical masks so people don't suspect them too much of being weirdos.

"Come on, we'll go into this alleyway" Gwen said ushering the boys to follow her. The three went down the alley as far as they could until they felt safe no one would see them changing. "Get changing… Oh… Wait…"

The two boys merely slipped on their masks and flipped their hoodies up. Gwen still couldn't take them seriously. Peter shrugged whilst, Callum… being who he is gave an exaggerated thumbs up. She swore she saw his eyes sparkle.

"Ugh…" Gwen shook her head and started to take off her shirt. Peter flinched and panicked at the sudden bold move, whilst Callum merely stepped aside and watched the magic unfold. Peter ran up to Gwen grabbing her arm gently, stopping her midway from changing.

"What are you doing?!" Peter quietly exclaimed.

"What? It's not like it's the first time you saw me partially naked" Gwen shot back.

"That was when we were kids!" Peter fired back. Gwen gave a sly smile and inched her face closer to his.

"Oh? Does my body excite you?" Gwen asked. The young boy was slightly taken a back from this behaviour. Sure, Felicia was like this a lot, but the contrast in character was what got him. Meanwhile Callum was silently giggling before noticing someone standing looking at them.

"Uh…" Was the only sound Callum made. Peter turned to see what was happening and so did Gwen with her shirt blocking half of her face. A lone old grandma stared at Peter angrily.

Callum looked at Peter and Gwen, then looked back at the grandma. He continuously switched between the two, crossed his arms and began to brain storm. Peter looked at Callum and his heart was beating fast. This sort of situation doesn't look good… The two of them were wearing some shady outfits with him grabbing a girl's arm who has half her shirt off.

"Callum?! Do something!" Peter begged but Callum just kept his arms crossed and his eyes shut. Peter could swear he could hear a 1990's dial-up internet sound coming from him.

"AH!" Callum hit his fist on his palm as he eyes shot open.

"YES!" Peter screamed in his head.

"Were shooting a porno!" Callum said. Peter felt his jaw dislodge from his face.

"THAT'S THE BEST EXCUSE YOU COULD THINK OF?" Peter shouted in anger.

"What was I supposed to say?! You were trying to stop her from changing her clothes in front of two guys because we have a sense of decency and respect a woman's personal space?" Callum said.

Well…" The grandma started. "Yes, I would've believed that"

The three stood silent looking at the grandma.

"Oh…" was the only thing Callum could say. "Then that is exactly what—"

"IM CALLING THE POLICE!" The grandma yelled.

"Great start!" Peter screamed as he aimed his arm at the building and zipped himself upwards holding Gwen in his arms. Callum also pointed his arm up at the sky but nothing came out. They only had two and Peter had both of them.

"Well shit…" Callum stood looking at the building where Peter disappeared into, along with Gwen. He looked back at the lady.

"My phone is out of battery" The grandma said disappointedly, holding out her phone in front of her face.

"Oh… Uh…" Callum looked around and saw some emergency exit stairs. "I'll, I'll just go this way then."

"I'll get you next time" The grandma said as Callum opened the door.

"Got it ma'am." Callum said giving a little salute to the woman

"You little shit" The grandma responded calmly with Callum waving his hand confirming he heard it. It was an awkward silence. The only ounce of sound came from Callum when he opened the metal door, and when it closed… Slowly.

Up on the rooftop, Peter along with Gwen whom he held in his arms landed lightly and the boy sighed in relief. The young man turned and looked down where they were before and saw the old lady walking away with Callum no where in sight.

"Whew… That could've been bad" Peter said turning back to Gwen who was smirking.

"You gonna put me down now prince charming?" Gwen asked. Peter jolted lightly forgetting that he was holding Gwen. He gently placed her back down on her feet and took two steps back, scratching the back of his head, lightly blushing under his mask. Gwen giggled as she walked towards the exit door and hid behind the walls.

Peter watched her till she was out of sight and quickly sighed after. "God… This was a great start…" Peter thought to himself, already a little bit tired, although it was more mentally then physically.

A few moments pass and Callum comes of the doorway to the rooftop with his brother greeting him with a dirty look.

"It could've been a lot worse okay?" Callum said holding his hands up. Peter groaned at his first words.

"It was as bad as it could have been! What were you thinking?! Shooting a porno? Dear god…" Peter complained, but Callum merely shrugged with indifference.

"That doesn't matter right now Peter." Gwen said coming around the corner with her white costume. "Were here to get info on Herman, nothing else" Peter nodded his head in agreement. Gwen took out a small tablet from her pack back and showed the two boys a flashing red dot. "That's where his place is."

"Then let's get going then" Callum suggested with Peter stopping him before he stepped forward.

"You don't have web shooters. One of us has to carry you" Peter said.

"Hey you're not the only one with some cool little gadgets" Callum said. He took out a pair of gloves and a pair of boots from his back pack, both were grey in colour. He slipped on the gloves and switched out his sneakers for the boots and the gadgets lit up. The gloves lit up a blue colour very lightly, only appearing at the knuckles and joints of the fingers. The boots also lit up the same colour around the rim of the outsole.

"What do they do?" Gwen asked.

"Climb" Callum answered with a smile.

"Climb?" Peter reiterated. "That's it?"

Callum shrugged, and bent his knees. With one swift motion he jumped forward at an incredible distance and landed on the side of the building.

"Callum?! What are you doing?!" Peter exclaimed jumping after his crazy brother, firing his web to pull himself towards the same building. Right as Callum landed the lights on his gloves and boots lit up red and he held his place.

Peter landed right beside him and was slightly stunned. Gwen had the same reaction and mouthed wow at the spectacle. Peter tilted his head and started to nod his head.

"Alright that's pretty freaking cool." Peter complimented. The two brothers were both in the same position and style in terms of sticking onto a wall. Callum pointed at his brother nodding his head as the two high fived each other.

Quickly, Gwen zipped towards the two and landed right behind Peter. "What the hell is that?"

"Well there was a time when I got curious of Peter's powers. You know, how he manages to stick to walls. It's called the Van Der Waals force. I'm too lazy to explain it so… Little electric hair thingys that stick to shit on a molecular level. I just merely replicated it"

Gwen nodded her head, "Cool, nice and short. I like it. But can you keep up-?" Before she could even finish her sentence, Callum jumped off the wall, his gloves and boots flashed back to blue as he leapt to the next building and began to wall run.

"—With us…." Gwen finished, with Peter smiling under his mask, trying little to hold his laughter. "Well it's a good thing he's going the right way." Gwen sighed jumping off the side of the building and firing her web shooters at the nearby skyscrapers. Peter followed right behind her, and soon, three teens were swinging, and running over the buildings of New York.

"Holy shit!"

"Whoa!"

"Oh my god!"

Exclamations were coming from the pedestrians below. They looked in awe as three people were freely swinging and running about the city with almost not effort. Every movement they made was smooth, no wasted energy.

"Go right!" Gwen yelled at Callum who was still ahead of them. Callum who was running at an incredible speed was nearing the edge of the building when Gwen told the directions. Callum nearing the edge of the building started to slide on the side of the building, being possible due to his speed. His arm dragged behind him and as his hand grabbed the edge the gloves flashed red and the sudden impact turned his entire body to the right of the edge.

"Ohhh! I wanna try that!" Peter exclaimed in excitement. He started to wall run just like his brother and jumped off the building right as he hit the edge. Using his web shooters instead, he fired a web onto the edge and swung himself around the corner.

"These guys literally just started doing this stuff, and they're already as good as me. That's hurts my confidence a bit" Gwen thought to herself as she watched the two brothers flipping and swinging all over the place. She followed quickly behind them and looked in awe at how smooth they were moving.

After a few minutes of traversing the city, Gwen pointed out a small warehouse near Pier 36 by the FDR. "His hideout should be in that warehouse."

"Seeing how your dad had the location… I'm guessing there isn't just one?" Peter said, with the three landing on the rooftop of the warehouse.

"More or less. Surprisingly, those files were really well encrypted. My dad almost caught me hacking into it at one point" Gwen explained.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised. It'd be bad if these locations got out somehow. Would cause a major panic within the population." Peter intelligently deducted. "Anyways. We should get in, gather information, get out. The faster we get in and out the better"

Agreed" Callum replied, with Gwen nodding her head in agreement. The three ran, and swung towards the pier. Luckily the pier workers were too busy to notice them landing on the rooftop.

"How did the workers not know that there was a hideout? Wouldn't police cars be all over this?" Callum asked. The pier was unbelievably busy. It would be strange that these workers wouldn't have noticed a huge influx of officers.

"According to the file, only a limited number of investigators were allowed. Like you said, to the keep the public calm." Gwen explained, she walked over to a skylight hatch and looked through with the brothers right behind her. Below was just a bunch of workers, fixing up damaged boats.

"Where would his hiding place be?" Callum wondered, scanning around the inside. He noticed a really beaten up ship in at the end of the warehouse and thought it looked kind of strange. "Look at that one" Callum pointed.

"Looks like that boat has been there for years… It's not even in water" Callum pointed out. The boat looked like it was around 20 years old. Lot of rust, and even some moss growing around it. "I feel like that's a pretty good place to put a hiding spot."

"Yes… Callum… I know. It says that in the report…" Gwen said, leaving Callum a little speechless.

"You couldn't have said that sooner?" The boy asked.

"You had a good thing going" Gwen replied with Peter laughing in the background.

The three entered the warehouse through the skylight silently. Taking every opportunity to watch the workers move around. They hid behind containers, and any other objects they could find that would cover their bodies.

"I think were good" Peter whispered as they just arrived at the mossy boat. The three entered the boat and immediately went into the cockpit, where everything seemed normal.

"Hatch?" Callum asked, and the two nodded their heads. The three went around as quiet as possible trying to find this boats hatch, but… It was odd. It was no where to be found. They even rubbed out the moss to see if it was being covered. "Where is this thing? There's no way a boat like this doesn't have a hatch…"

"Hey Gwen, did the report say anything about a hidden passage way?" Peter asked the blonde.

She shook her head in response. "No, it just said this boat was his hideout. Who knows? Maybe the police cleared this place out.

"Really? We went through all this trouble to find a dirty ass boat?" Callum angrily said slamming his foot down onto the floor. *BAM* "Whoa!" Callum yelled as his foot shot down beneath the floor. "Oh crap! Oh crap! I'm gonna die!"

"Shut up!" Gwen silently screamed, slapping her hand over his mouth. "You want all of us to get caught?!"

"Nice Callum. Found our way in" Peter said kneeling beside him, winding up his arm for a punch towards the flooring.

"Just be careful Peter, we don't know if—" Gwen started but Peter quickly forced his fist down onto the wooden flooring, and the entire floor crumbled. "It's damaged…"

"Ohh!" The three yelled as they fell through the boats flooring and landed on their backs.

"Oof…" Callum exclaimed painful, getting a face full of the pavement. "That was not fun…" Callum said getting up slowly before….

"I'm sorry!" Gwen screamed right before landing right on top of Callum knocking the wind out of him.

"OOF! AW… My back… Why are you so…" Callum started but thought about it, and felt some sort of dark future ahead if he continued with his sentence. "You know what nevermind… just get off of me."

"What the hell?" Peter marveled a little bit at the sight. Beneath this tiny little boat was a relatively massive room. The room they were in also connected to another. "This is a really basic… hideout…"

"You can say that again." Gwen replied. "Looks like they cleaned the place out pretty well. You think we can find some info?"

"Ugh… I'm surprised no one above heard that" Callum remarked getting up off the ground.

"Well let's take a win where we can huh?" Peter replied. The young man scanned around the room, which, after some observation, was really bare bones. In fact, it almost looked like a white room, with some sort of furniture. "Look! A… A table…"

"A table?" Callum deadpanned. "I dropped on my ass, for a table?"

"That table could have some valuable information Callum." Gwen said, turning her head to him. He looked back with the same expression.

"You're right. If it HAD something on it" Callum said, emphasizing the word "had" in an annoyed tone.

"They really cleaned this place out well…" Peter said, he wiped his finger on the floor, and almost no dust was visible. "The place is basically spotless…"

"Maybe we should take a look in the other room" Gwen suggested. The two brothers nodded and followed the young woman towards the other room.

Upon opening the doors, the room revealed itself to be more than a table this time. A desk and a couple of cabinets laid out nicely. Unfortunately for the three, the cabinets were cleaned out, and it looked like the desk was no different.

"Another dead end?" Callum wondered. Peter looked over to Gwen who was visibly frustrated.

"Hey" Peter said quietly to the distraught blonde. "The police have been chasing him for years. Don't be so hard on yourself"

"I know… It's just… I want to help my dad in some way…" Gwen uttered. Callum looked over at the two and left them alone, while he went towards the desk.

He opened the drawers, and as he suspected, they were empty. He sighed in defeat as he tried to find anything. Peter came up from behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Find anything?"

"Nope… I'm surprised they didn't rip the walls off of this place." Callum answered.

"Hey! I think someone is down there!" Someone from above yelled. The three snapped their heads towards the door, their hearts starting to beat a little faster and faster.

"What do we do?" Callum asked in a panicked voice.

"Hide somewhere?" Peter answered.

"There is no where to hide man" Callum shot back.

"I got an idea" Gwen said looking at the two with a smile.

Four men walked into the room they were in, armed with pistols in their hands. They didn't look like the dock workers. All of them were wearing normal civilian clothing. The men didn't notice the three on the ceiling. They stared at the men, and honestly thought that their hearts were about to burst out of their chests.

"There's no one in here" One of them said.

"Better hope so. Last thing we need is someone snooping around this place" The other answered.

"Hey! Just shut up and grab what we came for" One of the men said. He seemed to be leader of the four, seeing how the other three kind of feared him a bit. Two men started to walk towards the cabinets which were by the walls and started to pull the two away, revealing a small lock box in the wall.

"How did we not guess that?" Callum whispered to himself, slightly annoyed.

One of the men punched in the code and took out what seems to be a USB drive. "Got it. Let's go"

"What should we do?" Callum asked as the men started to make their way back to the other room.

"We'll wait, and try to tail them after" Peter suggested. Callum nodded his head in agreement before…

"What the hell?!" The man with the USB drive screamed as Gwen dropped down and shot her web at the drive and retracted it back to her.

"Thanks, I'll be taking that!" Gwen said with a smile under her mask.

"Or not, fighting is fine" Callum commented.

"Who the hell is this?" One of the men commented.

"Doesn't matter! Shoot her!" The leader of the group yelled. The four thugs pointed their pistols at Gwen. Peter and Callum detached from the ceiling dropping on top of two of the thugs, disarming them immediately.

"Pointing at gun at a lady is rude y'know?" Peter said to a woozy thug.

"Not the title I would use but to each his own" Callum wittily commented.

"Who the hell?!" The leader shifted his firearm to Callums head. The young teen quickly reacted with pushing the man's hand upwards, with the shot heading towards the ceiling.

"That's a dangerous thing you got there!" Callum said. He twisted the man's arm to and a scream came out of his mouth as his hand let go of the pistol. "Good night!" Callum smiled jumping and sending the man a nice round house kick to the head, knocking him out cleanly.

"Boss! -!? Mhm?!" The last thug screamed in terror right before his mouth was hit by something. Peter had shot a web at his mouth, but didn't stop there. With a few quick shots of his web shooter, both of the man's arms were pinned in an X across his chest.

"Sorry!" Peter said rather genuinely. He shot two webs at the man's chest and pulled him down to the floor, following up with a huge spread of webbing that stuck his body to the floor.

"Well that could've gone worse" Gwen said with a big sigh leaving her body.

"Gwen what were you thinking?! You could've gotten hurt!" Peter scolded.

"This is the only thing I have that can possibly help my father Pete. I'm willing to risk my own safety for that" Gwen shot back rather coldly. Callum and Peter were both surprised at her tone, and that look on her face worried them as well. "Come on, let's go before we get into any more trouble" The blonde said going back towards the entry point.

Parker Household

"Hey Pete?" Callum called out to his brother, whom sat on his chair, tapping his pen on his desk repeatedly. He looked deep in thought, not hearing Callum calling out to him. "Hey!" Callum repeated snatching Peter's tapping pen out of his hands.

"Huh?!" Peter snapped back to reality turning to his brother. "What was that for?"

"You were spacing out man… Jesus" Callum replied tossing the pen perfectly back into Peter's pen holder. The younger brother sighed, he grabbing his chair and pulled it right next to the sulking Peter. "Look… I know you're worried about her…"

"Worried? Callum, the Gwen we know isn't that impulsive. She wouldn't dive straight into danger like that… And how she just left?" Peter started.

~Flash back~

"I can take it from here guys. Thanks for your help" Gwen didn't even stop to come inside. Instead she quickly jumped out of their bedroom window and zipped off. The two brothers didn't have a chance to say a word. Their faces showed a worried expression for their close friend.

Peter looked out the window and watched as Gwen sped through the city zipping by buildings in a frantic fashion.

~End Flash Back~

"Yeah I can attest to that… I've never seen her so desperate before. I'm guessing there's a whole lot more to this than just her dad chasing Herman around." Callum deduced. The two brothers leaned back on their chairs brainstorming, if there was anything they could do for their friend.

"I got it! I'll see if I can't find Gwen after school tomorrow. Seeing how she's anxious about this Herman thing. Plus, with her skills she won't have a problem with that USB drive" Callum suggested.

"Good… Wait what do you mean I?" Peter questioned slightly confused why Callum was only referring to himself.

"You promised to meet MJ, tomorrow right?" Callum reminded Peter. With that reminder, Peter started to scratched his head in frustration over forgetting about it. "Hey don't fret about it too much. A lot happened today."

"Yeah… It just feels a lot of stuff I happening and I can't seem to process it all…" Peter replied slumping into his chair.

"Look don't worry so much okay? Let me handle this for now. Okay?" Callum said trying to calm and reassure his brother.

"Yeah, thanks... Sorry" Peter replied.

"No worries." Callum said placing his hand over his brothers' shoulder. "Now why don't we head down to eat before May beats down our door?"

"Haha. Yeah okay" Peter chuckled and the two brothers made their way down towards the dining room…

~Next Day~

The next school day came by and the usual had happened. The tow brothers went to their classes and nothing was out of the ordinary. When the day had finally passed, the two brothers along with Harry exited the school front doors. When the trio reached the end of the stairs they were approached by a group of girls, more notably at the front, Mary Jane.

"MJ? What are we doing here?" A pretty brunette cheerleader asked. From their demeanour they didn't seem to annoyed at their presence.

"I'm just here to talk to them" MJ explained.

"Just make it quick okay? Flash won't like seeing you talk to them" Another cheerleader, a pretty blonde replied.

"I got it." MJ giggled. "So? Pete? You remember the promise we made?" The red-head asked.

"Yeah, of course." He replied with a nod.

"Great. Hand me your phone" MJ asked holding out her hand.

"Huh? Uh, o-okay" Peter said handing MJ the phone. When she came to grab it, their hands touched for a second, but much to MJ's surprised when she glanced upwards, Peter didn't show much of a reaction. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just putting in my number, that's all" MJ smiled at him. Harry nudged Peter's side lightly, with a smirk on his face. While Callum whistled with the same face as Harry. The other cheerleaders by her side showed some expressions of surprise.

While MJ was putting in her number on his phone, he had received a text message. The red-haired girls' expression darkened. The message was from a beautiful platinum blonde girl winking at her camera. The message as shown…

Hey handsome, wondering if you got some time to spend some quality time with me . Let me now soon okay?

The cheerleaders leaned into see the message out of curiosity, or because teenagers liked to snoop around private people's stuff. The girls looked at the girl and then looked back at Peter, then back again twice. They began to smile and directed their attention to the older parker brother.

"Damn Parker, we didn't know you got game" one of the cheerleaders said with a slight giggle.

"What is she talking about?" Harry asked. That's when both Peter and Callum realized what happened.

"Felicia…" Peter muttered under his breath. He could visibly see MJ expression of anger. He looked to Callum who continued his whistle except it was the imitation of bomb coming down from the sky, and he made an exaggerated explosion sound. "You are not helping…!" Peter quietly yelled.

The cheerleaders began to giggle at the two brothers' banter while MJ was less than amused. With a big huff she handed Peter's phone back and turned heel. "I'll let you know where to meet okay?" The red-haired girl said stomping away with her arms crossed without hearing an answer. The girls by her side continued their giggles and much to their surprise, waved goodbye to the three boys.

"Well… I don't know what that was all about but… Hey! You got her number!" Harry said slapping the back of the young man with a large grin on his face.

"What did she send you anyways?" Callum asked.

"Hm? She just wanted to know if I can go out with her today" Peter answered.

"Who is this Felicia girl anyways?" Harry asked.

"That's Pete's girlfriend" Callum said taking Peter's phone from his hands and showing Harry her picture. Harry's eyes blew wide open and almost snatched the phone away to get a closer look, but Callum pulled away.

"No fucking way. You're lying! A girl like that!? You aren't being pranked right?!" Harry yelled unable to believe a girl like that was dating Peter Parker.

"Man, why you gotta put it like that?" Peter asked.

"Well, anyways. Changing the topic. I have to head out. I need to go looking for Gwen" Callum said.

"Alright, stay safe out there" Peter replied.

"W-Wait! You have a girlfriend too?!" Harry exclaimed but Callum was already running off.

"See you tomorrow Harry!" Peter said waving good-bye making his way opposite of his brother.

"W-Wait! W-What about me man? I want one toooo!" Harry yelled as his two friends walked their separate ways.

Thats it for chapter nine guys! Hope you guys enjoyed it! Also, poor Harry huh? Hahaha!

Thank you guys so much for the support! I'll have chapter ten up when i'm done with the 11th!

Have a great day everyone!