Chapter 12: Public Image

This chapter is somewhat inspired by the Danny Phantom episode "Mystery Meat". You do not need to be familiar with that show to enjoy this chapter, but I just thought I'd mention it. And also, because of that inspiration there is a protest in this chapter. I just want to disclaim that it is solely meant as entertainment and is not supposed to be metaphorical to real life in any way.

Guest: I'm happy that you're happy!

Pink Lemonade: It was interesting writing from Ava's and May's perspectives. I tried to keep both in canon, and I always got the sense from the show that Ava was sometimes harsh because she isn't perfectly socially adept. Spending your formative years at Shield is bound to be strange. And of course I had to show that Aunt May loves her nephew to the moon and back. The number of Peter's imaginary fears is up to you though . . . ;)

Peter woke on his stomach with his face buried in his pillow. That wasn't unusual. On sunny mornings he often woke up like this, trying to block out the few rays of sunlight that snuck through his curtains. May had bought him room-darkening ones, but the company's definition of darkness and Peter's seemed to differ.

That was to be expected considering that there was probably no one at the company with night vision.

As his mind gradually kicked into gear, Peter became aware of a slight throbbing in his mouth. The memories from yesterday came back to him. He groaned. This morning was going to be awful. But maybe school would be better for once. Now that Flash was trying to be nice to him, there wasn't a single downside to Midtown High anymore.

Bolstered by having something to look forward to, he pushed himself up into a kneeling position. He immediately noticed something was wrong. The pillow remained stuck to his face.

Correction, it was stuck to his fangs.

Gagging slightly, Peter pulled at it. He wished he had more control over his fangs so he could get them to detach properly. It was hard to make them relax once they were wrapped around something. Although he supposed the fabric of the pillowcase might be snagged to his fangs, in which case it wasn't his fault. He pulled a little harder, wincing at the small ripping sound. But he knew how to sow. He could fix a small rip himself.

That wasn't a small rip.

Peter inhaled sharply. That was a mistake. A remaining piece of cloth or foam or whatever lodged in his throat. He began to choke.

He didn't have to panic for long. May rushed in seconds later, quickly absorbing the scene. With the smooth speed of someone who had spent a few years as an EMT, she got her arms around her nephew, performing the Heimlich maneuver. After a few tries, it was memory foam that popped out. Peter gasped for air.

"Are you okay?" May asked, still with her arms around him. She sighed in relief when he nodded. "I'm so glad that worked. Those abs of yours made it feel like I was trying to squeeze a rock. Or the Rock, for that matter."

Eyes watering, Peter shook his head. "I'm—cough—fine, but please—no comments about you—squeezing the Rock right now. I don't want to gag again."

A breathy laugh escaped May's lips. "Of course, but . . . what happened here?"

Peter looked back at his bed, at the decimated pile of fluff that had once been his pillow. "I don't know. It was—cough—like that when I woke up."

"Did you have a nightmare?"

He thought back. There was a vague memory of a dream. The fine details were already fading. That always happened when he didn't try to remember his dreams immediately after he woke up. Thinking about other stuff just pushed it clear out of his mind. But there was a sense of déjà vu, like he had had a similar dream before.

The image of the dinosaur flashed before his eyes.

"I dreamed I was hunting," he muttered before he could stop himself. But then he remembered what May had said last night, and he let himself elaborate. "I dreamed that I was hunting like a spider."

"You always did have a wild imagination."

Imagination? Oh, that's right, he hadn't actually told his aunt about his actual encounter with the dinosaur. Was now a good time to say it, though? Maybe. He didn't want to have to start this sort of conversation again in the future. "Um . . . I don't think it was entirely my imagination."

"What do you mean?"

Swallowing hard, Peter finally decided on the truth, or at least some amount of it. He told her the story of the dinosaur as he had seen it the first few times he had had the dream, the way it had likely happened in real life. The stalking, the running, the biting. The more he spoke, the more he realized that maybe he hadn't been dreaming of hunting this time. It had been like a nightmare, resonating more with his memory of when the dinosaur was chasing him before the poison. But in the dream, he hadn't just run away. He had fought back. With his fangs.

If the pillow was the dinosaur, then apparently Peter had won.

What a bittersweet victory.

Wait, did he really want to beat the dinosaur that badly that he was still having dreams about it? It had certainly gotten the better of him at least twice. Did he have a grudge against a Tyrannosaurus Rex?

That was a question for another day.

By the end of his retelling, May had chosen to sit down on his desk chair, listening to him like Ava had yesterday. That left Peter standing alone.

"Are there really dinosaurs in the Savage Lands?" she asked after a minute.

"Yes."

"And are you sure this isn't just your imagination?"

Peter looked down ashamedly. This was the price of lying to your loved ones. If they didn't know when you were lying, then they couldn't tell when you were saying the truth either. Now he was the Boy Who Cried Dinosaur. "Yes, I'm sure. Wolverine told me the whole thing."

May's lips parted in an 'aha' sort of moment. Her shoulders relaxed. "Ah, I see. Peter, it probably is your imagination. You took what Wolverine said and filled in the gaps."

Peter blinked at her. That was wrong, just wrong, but how could he convince her of that? "But it's true. I know it is. I—I had a dream like this the first night back, before Wolverine told me anything."

May frowned. "You didn't tell me that."

"It kind of took a backseat after everything else that happened that day."

"I can understand that. But you didn't destroy your pillow that time."

"No, I guess I didn't."

"And you admit that it was also a dream." May folded her hands in her lap. "Peter, listen to me. What happened to you in the Savage Lands turned you into something that wasn't you. But that's over now. You're home and you're safe. And I know you would never do anything like that when you're in your right state of mind."

Peter kept on blinking at her, heart hammering in his chest. It took a few seconds for him to find his voice again. "But—but look what I just did!" He pointed at the bed behind him.

"You were asleep. Besides, I'm sure that was more a result of teething than you trying to eat your own pillow. You did the same thing as a baby, except now you have those fangs."

Teething would have made perfect sense, if Peter didn't already know that it wasn't true. Why wasn't she taking his word for this? He was being completely honest for once. Did he have to be more honest? More blunt like Ava had been? Somehow, Ava's willingness to say anything out loud had made it all just a little easier. Sometimes he had only had to admit that her deductions were right. And when she was wrong, it had been easier to say the truth. Easier than it was now. He took a deep breath. "May, even if I was teething, I still had that dream. And it felt very real. And it matches up with how spiders really hunt."

"You're really worried about this," she said softly. "Is this related to what you asked me last night? About you seeming different?"

Peter nodded silently.

May stood up, putting her hands on his shoulders. "This spider stuff has changed a lot in you, but not you. It hasn't changed your brain and it hasn't changed your heart. You've probably just been researching this so much that it's starting seep into your dreams."

That . . . that wasn't true, and there was a simple way to explain why. "But it has changed my brain. My spider sense, remember? My brain changed to understand all of the extra sensory input and package it up in a neat little tingle."

"That's not really changing though. You just learned how to understand it after a while."

"It's still a change, a difference, a way I'm not—I'm not the same—"

"Don't think that way, Peter." May squeezed his shoulder consolingly. "If that's what you're worried about—don't think that way! That's not how the brain works! Being able to dodge things doesn't make you a different person!"

"I know that. I'm not just talking about my spider sense though. What about things like maybe possibly knowing how to hunt?"

"You don't know how to hunt. Having a dream about something doesn't make you an expert on it. I had a dream I was a pilot the other night, and I still don't know the first thing about flying. So don't go jumping to these conclusions, alright?"

She was being so optimistic, and Peter appreciated that, but she was too optimistic. Maybe a dream wasn't the most solid evidence, but it was still at least a possibility. And he didn't want to ignore that possibility. He wanted—he still wasn't exactly sure what he wanted, except for the fact that he didn't want to ignore it.

But maybe his aunt wanted to.

Had she been ignoring it last night too?

"Are you sure you're okay, Pete?"

He focused on her again. "Yes," he said quietly.

"Would you like some help cleaning up this mess?"

"I can do it." His stomach growled opportunely. "Maybe you can start on breakfast?"

May smiled at him. "Of course. Do pancakes sound good?"

"Perfect."

Peter stayed standing there for several minutes after she left, trying to wrap his mind around this new idea. An idea that would mean that everything his Aunt May had said to him yesterday was based on utter optimism.

Did she even really believe that he was the same? Or did she just want to believe that?

Even when he tried to tell her the truth, she just tried to brush it aside.

Peter clenched his fists as he grabbed his wastebasket. He was angry at himself, because he kept letting this sort of stuff happen. He kept letting everyone believe whatever they wanted about him, whether it was Jameson or his own aunt and friends . . .

But he could fix this. He could fix it just like he fixed all—well, most—of his other mistakes. It was just going to take some time. A lot of time. And many, many awkward moments.

In the few seconds it took for him to stand in front of his bed again, his fists were shaking. He was so angry at himself. But he wasn't just angry at himself. He was angry at the Daily Bugle. And maybe he was a little angry at Wolverine. And—and—

Was he angry at his aunt for not listening when she had the chance? Maybe he was. She always seemed to be on top of everything, aware of it all. She read the New York Times every morning, and she was involved at his school, and she did try to keep up with everything he was doing as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. But she didn't seem to put quite as much effort into his spider side. She had completely steered the conversation this morning, even when he tried to tell her she was wrong.

Peter finally unclenched his fists. It didn't feel good to be upset at May. It didn't feel good to be upset period. He tried breathing in that rhythmic way Danny sometimes did. It worked a little.

Speter?

He quickly set the bucket down and went over to open his closet. Phoebe was perched on the branch in her Jungle Box. Peter couldn't believe he had nearly forgotten about her. He could feel all sorts of confused emotions radiating from her, and he felt worse. "Morning, Phoebe. I'm sorry about all this. You heard most of it, didn't you?"

Yup, she said softly. Speter okay?

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just been . . . um—I have a lot of things on my mind. But I've learned a valuable life lesson. Pillows are not edible."

Phoebe giggled in his head. Speter play pretend with pil—p—pillow.

Peter cocked his head. "Can you see my dreams?"

Not all time . . .

"It's okay if you do. I just didn't know that you could." Really, he should have known. She could read his mind whenever she wanted when he was awake. Why not when he was asleep too? He needed to take a moment one of these days to figure out everything Phoebe could do. "So do you know what I dreamed about?"

Yup!

"Huh, I—I may talk to you about that. But later. Talking to May took up all of your playtime and I need to get to school. I'll give you your breakfast now, and I promise we'll play tonight, okay?"

Okay.

Phoebe sounded much more at ease than she had a few minutes ago. Peter sprinkled some crickets into the terrarium. Then he took some for himself, before pouring them back into the container after a moment's hesitation. Once he made sure that Phoebe was eating, he went back to his bed and began to push the torn foam into the wastebasket. A second later he pulled his hand back.

It was wet. Wet with his drool, no doubt. This was disgusting.

Sighing, he continued. But he began to notice something. Some pieces of the yellow foam were tinted green. And parts of the white pillowcase were slightly blue. But what liquid was blue? What else could have come out of his mou—

Venom. He was supposed to have venom this morning.

This stuff was soaked in his drool and his venom.

That was . . . that was just . . . Peter didn't know a proper word for this. He had injected venom into his pillow and completely eviscerated it. How much venom had he even used? How much venom did he have? There were stains everywhere now that he was looking. At this rate, he was going to—

He gasped. That was a good idea. It was actually a good idea! He could use up all his venom at once! Store it in bottles or something for Connors to test! And then he probably wouldn't have to deal with it ever again!

How had he not thought of this yesterday? Well, he had been rather distracted at the time. He could sometimes be a genius when he wasn't distracted by the never-ending drama that was his life.

Peter finished up and rushed downstairs to tell his aunt the good news and the bad—just news.

On his way to Midtown High, Peter checked his phone. Having sharp senses were not perfectly ideal for the city, but they did allow for a certain amount of multitasking that could potentially endanger a normal person. In New York, distracted walking could be almost as bad as distracted driving. Traffic, loose grates, muggers. Granted, sometimes no amount of precaution could protect you from everything, but that was why Spider-Man still had a job to do.

So Peter walked without worry while reading through the texts he had received this morning. Meanwhile, his spider sense directed him around passerby and over uneven sidewalks. His spider sense was perhaps the only spidery thing he was really comfortable with and grateful for, even if it had changed his brain. Because who could really be unappreciative of a precognitive sense of danger?

On his phone, notifications kept popping up from the team group chat. Those annoying, ever-present notifications.

The idea of a group chat between the team members had originally been Peter's idea. It had seemed like a good idea at the time to have a more mundane way to stay in contact aside from their Shield communicators. However, Sam had quickly ruined it by turning it into a casual exchange of . . . anything, really. Fun facts, questions about classes, corny memes and so much more. Of course, that technically didn't make the group chat useless. It still kept them all in the loop. But the sheer quantity of texts was annoying, especially when Danny and Luke got into quote battles.

Peter ignored those texts for now and checked if there was anything from Harry. He hadn't seen Harry much in the past few days, but today there was one text from him, and it was a rather mysterious one.

Harry: Hey, classes should start l8 2day. Meet me out front. Very important.

Why would classes start late? Peter hadn't received any messages from the school. Maybe that's what the team was babbling about on the group chat. Obviously they would finally talk about something important the one time Peter ignored it.

Okay, maybe not the first time he ignored it. But he always checked it within a few hours.

Peter opened the chat with forty-seven unread messages. It began with rambling about a massive crowd at the front of the school, followed by rants of 'how dare they?' and 'I can't believe they did this'. Harry and MJ were mentioned, but it wasn't clear how they were involved. The last few messages were directed to Peter specifically, telling him to brace himself.

That wasn't a very good sign.

He debated asking for specifics, but he was practically at the school already. He jogged the last block to find the street in front of the school completely crowded with people. Traffic was blocked. There were shouts and chants and picket signs and two figures on two different platforms.

It looked like Harry and MJ were at the center of it all. In charge of it all.

MJ's side was full of posters for her new play and various messages praising Spider-Man as a hero.

Harry's side was obviously against every one of those ideas, signs asking for the play to be shut down.

Peter's shoulders sagged. Why did his friends decide to do this? How had they managed to do this? Sure, they had seemed busy the past few days, but to schedule this . . .

"Look at the facts, people!" MJ shouted into a megaphone. "Crime rates have dropped drastically since Spider-Man hit the streets! And they've dropped lower since he formed the team he currently works with! My play is not entirely a work of fiction! It's a representation of what some news companies like the Daily Bugle doesn't want you to know! That Spider-Man is a hero!"

"Of course crime rates have dropped!" Harry countered with his own megaphone. "All the robbers and gang members that used to do petty crimes have now chosen to join supervillains for protection against Spider-Man! And those supervillains have been way more active ever since! I don't remember having my school attacked when I was in elementary! Spider-Man is a magnet for disaster!"

Peter shut his eyes. Both of them were saying facts, but neither was much more true than the other. Peter knew the vigilante method wasn't perfect, even when it was Shield approved. He knew he had made mistakes. But he really did do his best to protect the city.

Okay, so maybe he felt like MJ's side was a lot more true than Harry's, but his opinion was a little biased.

He couldn't just tell Harry that though. Could he?

"Hey, is that—?" Harry put a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun. "It's my buddy, Pete! Get on up here! He's one of the few guys I know who doesn't idolize Spider-Man!"

Well, that was true, if only because it would be too weird to idolize himself.

That was a strange line of reasoning. Forget that. He needed to come up with a real excuse to not go up there.

"Spider-Man saved Pete's from the Goblin, just like he saved me!" MJ interrupted. "Or are you just skimming over the facts that poke holes in your theory?"

Ouch, that was a low blow.

"Pete wasn't saved by Spider-Man! Spider-Man wasn't even there when his team was investigating! Pete broke into my place covered in symbiote, and I saved him from that!"

Peter grimaced. That was true too, even if there was a perfectly logical explanation behind Spider-Man's absence. Not that anyone could know the explanation, but it did exist.

"Why are we even arguing about Peter's stand on the matter?" MJ asked, almost sounding confused past her confidence. "Let's just listen to what he has to say! Your choice is up to you, Pete!"

They both turned to him, and now the entire crowd was looking at him, or at least in his general direction. The crowd was large enough that not everyone had a clear view. It became terribly quiet. Peter could feel his cheeks heating up. He rarely had this much attention even in costume.

What was he going to do? He couldn't side with one or the other. Not only were they his friends, but he was the very person they were arguing about, even if they didn't know it. So should he just walk away? That seemed kind of rude, but he would be able to kind of explain it to them later. They would understand, right?

"Hypocrites, the both of you!" a strong voice boomed. "You tell me not to bully your friend, and now you're doing it yourselves!"

Flash Thompson pushed his way out of the crowd, coming to stand next to Peter. "Follow my lead," he whispered. Peter gaped at him in response.

"We're not bullying him!" Harry protested.

"Yeah, we're just giving him the opportunity to have his voice heard!"

"Does he look like he wants to be heard? You're just trying to pressure him into picking sides! A man has a right to his own opinion, and he has a right to keep it private too!" Before either of them could respond, Flash put his hands on Peter's shoulders and began to guide him to the front doors. "Make way!" he yelled at those who hadn't already cleared a path.

Flash didn't let him go until they were safely inside the school. The hallway was virtually empty with everyone outside.

"Um," Peter said after Flash hadn't said anything for a full minute. "Thank you?"

Flash shrugged. "Don't mention it."

Again, near silence. Peter debated to leave it at that, but he had to know. "Why did you help me?"

"They're too fired up. Not thinking straight. I figure MJ will be grateful I did this after she cools off."

Ah, so Flash was technically doing this to ensure his role as Spider-Man, which was . . . all sorts of levels of irony. "Okay, thanks."

"You said that already."

"But I really mean—"

"Whatever. Later, Pecker."

Walking haughtily, Flash disappeared down the hallway. Peter watched him go before shaking his head in disbelief and heading off in the direction of his own locker. Ava and Danny were waiting for him there.

"I'm guessing you saw the spectacle outside," Ava said, mouth set in a firm line.

"Yeah, if only I could have been warned ahead of time. Maybe we should invent a way to instantly send and receive short written messages," Peter replied as sarcastically as he could.

"It seemed like one of those phenomena that must be seen to be believed," Danny said apologetically. "We hardly believed it when we arrived. I knew your friends were passionate, but . . ." he trailed off, apparently at a loss for words.

That was always a sign of a complicated situation.

Peter sighed and shrugged, beginning to dial the code into his lock, simultaneously pressing his finger against the fingerprint scanner that was hidden on the Shield mandated item. "I'm going to have a long talk with both of them later, and not even about Spider-Man. They tried to put me in the spotlight like I would just decide who was right."

"No way," Ava muttered. "Whose idea was that?"

"Harry's first, but MJ agreed after. Even more unbelievable: guess who pulled me out of the limelight?"

Danny opened his mouth to make a suggestion, but his guess was drowned out by the sound of an explosion in the distance, from the front of the building. All three of them exchanged glances.

"You don't think they brought fireworks, do you?" Peter asked, but their communicators were already ringing. The quiet hallway was empty aside from them, so he accepted the call. It was Luke.

"You all need to get to the front quick! Electro came and he wants to show his support for Harry's side by luring us out and beating Spider-Man in front of a crowd!"

Peter frowned. "Wait, how does that show his support? It would just prove that he's stronger, but he's a bad guy and I would be fighting him, so . . ."

"I don't know! This is Electro we're talking about. You know he's not all up there." The small image of Luke circled a finger near his head in the cuckoo sign.

"You can say that again." Sam's image replaced Luke's. He was already in costume. "Where'd you guys go? I want to see if we can make this fight last long enough so I don't have to take the Trig exam."

"The safety of the rest of the school is more important than your grades, Sam." Ava rolled her eyes before looking at Peter. "Any plans yet?"

A few months ago, it might have taken Peter some time to get into 'business mode'. But now it was second nature. "The usual for Electro. No close combat. I think there's a water reservoir on one of the buildings nearby, but I'm not sure."

"I believe it is over a block away," Danny said. "That might be too far."

"We could bait him closer though," Luke suggested. Now he had put his sunglasses on. "Nova and I will work on getting the civilians to safety while we wait for you."

"Right, okay, we'll improvise when we get there." Peter ended the call. "Let's suit up. And don't forget to go around so we don't all just burst out of the school." The last was actually Coulson's rule. He had intended it to protect the school from supervillains' suspicion and wrath, not to protect their identities. But it was still a good idea.

The three of them split up. Ava's and Danny's lockers were nearby (all the team members had lockers on this hallway), so they were all dressed within minutes. Quickly, they snuck out of the side entrance so they would approach the scene from a little ways down the street.

The scene was a mess.

The street was littered with abandoned backpacks and picket signs. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be many people around. A few could be seen cowering in nearby alleys, but it looked like Sam and Luke had gotten most people into the school.

Except MJ and Harry, because of course Electro would keep the two hotshots here as hostages just to look important.

Peter's heart clenched. Why did he have to have friends who got into so much trouble? And why did that trouble almost always have to involve him in some way?

On the bright side, at least Goblin was in custody right now. He would have probably come here in a rare show of support for his son.

Electro was standing between Harry and MJ's platforms, keeping up an electric current in the street, effectively trapping them in place. The electricity arced upwards. It reached out to Nova whenever he flew too close. Instead, Nova flew around Electro, trying to bait him into abandoning his post. He didn't appear to be having much luck. Power Man was nearby, eyeing the small water reservoir that seemed much more distant in person.

Electro's blue skin was bright even in the morning sun. He was almost too bright to look at for long. His facial features were nearly lost in the blur of light.

"Where're the rest of you pipsqueaks?" he asked Nova. "I want to get this show on the road already!"

"That's really nice of you to let us wait for backup," Nova mocked.

Peter turned his communicator on as his mind raced. "Okay," he said. "Hostages first. If Electro is here to show off, then I'll help Sam annoy him enough to start a chase. The rest of you can stay back and chuck stuff at him. That'll really get on his nerves. And if he stays focused enough during the chase, we can get him to the water tower. Sound good?"

"Perfect, I'm on it," Luke said.

"Avoid letting yourself be baited," Danny advised.

"I'll be fine. Just be ready to get Harry and MJ out of there the moment he's distracted."

"Why do I have to help you lure him?" Sam asked. "I'm the one who can fly. I should swoop in and save them."

"The electricity is already keeping you away and we have the most mobility," Peter reminded him. "We can dodge his shots better."

"Okay, makes sense, I guess."

Shooting a web line, Peter swung up onto a lamppost almost directly in front of Electro. He put on his best announcer voice. "It's swamp gas, it's a giant glowstick, no, it's the Human Lightbulb!"

"Ha! The Spider's here! I knew you called him!" Electro shouted at Nova.

"Did not," Nova retorted. "Power Man did."

"But you were just talking to hi—"

A cinder block lodged into Electro's chest. He grunted, stumbling slightly before pulling it out. He turned in the direction it came from a shot a bolt that Power Man only barely dodged in time.

"Okay, so your little friends are crawling out of the woodwork." Electro's voice buzzed with electricity, occasionally laced with an echo or reverse echo that made it warble weirdly. "But that's what I was counting on, 'cause you guys are the stars today."

"Aw, thanks, that's the nicest thing—" Peter's spider sense buzzed and he immediately let himself slip backwards. The electric bolt passed mere centimeters in front of his face. He used his momentum to swing back into an upright position. "Geez, compliments and assaults. I'm getting mixed signals here."

"I wasn't finished talking, and you're not supposed to interrupt the host!"

"The host?" Nova asked. "The host of what?"

"I haven't come up with a name for this segment yet, but you can thank little missy over there for the inspiration." He jerked a thumb towards MJ. "If she can have a play about how great Spider-Man is, then I can make a TV special on how I finally bested him and all his little buddies."

Peter glanced around. Now that he was looking for them, he could spot the cameras placed in various locations around the street. "That's pretty complicated. Have you linked all the cameras up?"

"Yes."

"Connected them to a computer with proper software?"

"Of course."

"Are the video files saving to a secure folder?"

Electro smirked. "Nice try, but all footage is being sent out wirelessly as we speak. The Daily Bugle will be pleasantly surprised in a few minutes."

"The Daily Bugle?" Sam repeated, unimpressed. "You didn't go for one of the more well-known channels?"

"Another nice try!" An old tire nearly went right through Electro. He pushed it the rest of the way out, shooting another bolt haphazardly in White Tiger's general direction. "You can't trick me this time! I know the Daily Bugle is the only one that'll run this unedited!"

"Gee, I wonder why," Peter said rhetorically. Really, he was wondering if it was illegal to accept footage from a supervillain. If it was, then maybe Shield could sue Jameson or something. That would be something to see.

"I'm sorry, Spider-Man!" MJ yelled. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't let Harry goad me into this—!"

"Hey, you were the one who suggested we 'let the people decide'!" Harry defended.

MJ glared at him. "I'm sure Harry's sorry too!"

"I'm only sorry for not realizing that anything Spider-Man related would attract dangerous attention!"

"Electro came to support your side!"

Peter refrained from slapping his hand over his face, if only so he didn't take his eyes off of Electro. Why couldn't Harry and MJ set that aside for five seconds?

Electro beamed at them as a tree limb impaled him. He glowed brighter and the wood burned black until it crumbled away. "Ah, the drama will increase the ratings! I just know it!" He turned back to Nova and Spider-Man. "Now all that's left is for the fight to begin!"

"And why would we just go along with that?" Peter asked, although he already knew the answer.

"You think those two are just here for the show? They're hostages, Spidey. You don't want them to be censored out for gore, do ya?" A safety cone landed on his head. He pulled it off furiously, throwing several lightning rays at the rest of the team in the distance. "Okay, that's getting old real fast! If you want them to live, then you'd better stop!"

Peter's heart was hammering. Would they still be able to lure Electro far enough away? What if Electro insisted that they stay in the view of the cameras? Then it would be impossible!

"Psst!" Nova had floated closer to him. "You and the others distract him for like five seconds when the battle starts, and I'll swoop in and save them. Just like I said before, 'kay?"

"Fine, just be fast enough."

Nova nodded, speaking louder for Electro to hear. "All right! Bring it on!"

"Let's see how enthusiastic you are once I'm done with you." Electro rubbed his hands together, jerking his chin at the rest of the team. "Tell them to get over here so we can start. And no one leaves this street, either. I don't want the cameras to miss my great victory. If anyone tries running away, those two get the shock of their lives."

Well, Peter had called it.

He took a deep breath, reminding himself that his goals were the same even if there were a bunch of cameras on him. He still needed to save his friends and defeat Electro with as little collateral damage as possible. He could do that. He just hoped that nothing crazy happened that Jameson could use against him or his friends.

Okay, that wasn't even close to his greatest fear right now, but the battlefield was not the time or place for self-reflection.

Walking tensely, the others came over to stand near Peter and Nova. With an overly extravagant flip, Peter landed on the street next to them. "All righty. So are we doing some sort of gameshow? Dance off? Sing off? Masked Singer is a thing now, and I've got the mask and the voice, if I do say so myself."

"You're confusing yourself with me," Nova said. "And I bet Ken would guess that you're one of those young, dorky actors like Tom Holland."

"Tom Holland is British. I can't really imagine him playing as me."

"He acted just like you in Spies in Disguise."

"I do not make kitten glitter bombs!"

"Forget it, we can't do Masked Singer anyway," Luke said. "Then he'd get to take off our masks."

"Excellent point," Peter conceded. Then his head tilted as he realized something. "Wait a second, are you saying I would be eliminated from the show?"

Ava massaged her temple. "Will you guys st—"

"STOP IT!" Electro shouted. "You're not going to steal the show this time! I am electric! I am Electro! And everyone will know that after I defeat you!"

"What do we win if you don't defeat us?" Nova asked.

"Why you little—!"

The trouble with Electro recently was that he was starting to become nearly as insane as Goblin. There were times when he acted like the run of the mill sort of low-level bad guy. And then he had these angry bursts when he suddenly seemed to remember all the amazing things electricity could do. This would have made him nearly impossible to beat if it weren't for the fact that these bursts of hyperawareness also made him hyperactive and distracted. He lost focus easily, which was usually the team's chance to make him diffuse into an electrical system or implement whatever other wild plan came to them.

Connors predicted there would come a day when Electro wouldn't be able to pull himself back together, a day when he would become just another part of the electric grid. And as many lives as that might save, Peter felt bad that there didn't seem to be any way to help him.

But that was when Peter was safe at home. When he was out here desperately dodging electric bolts, it was a whole lot harder to feel remorse.

Electro pelted them relentlessly, to the extent that the air filled with the scent of ozone. Peter wondered if that could suffocate them if Electro continued focusing his fire on one area. He decided not to test the theory, leaping away to the other side of the street.

"Hold still!" Electro demanded.

"When," Peter said in between dodges, "in the history of all sentient life, has anyone actually listened to that request from an enemy?"

Electro only doubled the volley of bolts.

Left, right, left, jump up, duck down, twist and flip. This was really becoming tiresome. Peter was beginning to run out of breath for more taunts. The rest of the team was having trouble dodging too. And that was bad, because Electro was still focused enough to maintain his electric fields around Harry and MJ. If they were having trouble distracting him now, then they would never be able to when they inevitably ran out of steam.

All the electricity in the air was making Peter's hair stand on end, and that was about the time his spider sense went on the fritz. He and Connors had figured out that it relied mostly on him sensing vibrations in the air, which was hard to do when the air was naturally vibrating with ionizing energy.

Ionizing . . . there was something about that. But how could it help? Peter couldn't quite figure it out yet.

In the meantime, a quick plan was forming in his head. If he let himself get hit by a relatively minor shock, then Electro might get distracted by his partial victory, and Harry and MJ could be saved. It was risky, but it was worth a shot. It was at least better than getting hit by some of the stronger bolts headed his way.

"Guys," Peter whispered into his communicator. "I think he'll only pause once he's gotten one of us. I'm going to let him hit me and—"

"You're not the only one who can do sacrifices," Luke immediately argued. "And I've got the tough skin."

"Your skin is as conducive as anyone else's. You can still be electrocuted like the rest of us," Peter reminded him.

"And Spidey is the most annoying one here," Sam chimed in. "So he'll be the most satisfying to hit."

Peter sighed. "I guess that's another way to look at it. So do we all agree?"

"I suppose it is a logical plan of action," Danny said reluctantly.

"You're lucky you have a wild healing factor," Ava grumbled.

Careful to make it look natural, Peter let a smaller blast strike his shoulder. His body seized, and he fell to his knees, gasping, hissing.

That had been stronger than it had looked.

"Ha!" Electro yelled triumphantly. He strode closer to Peter's prone form, and the electricity around the platforms died down. "I hit one! The leader of the pack! Any last words you want to say to the camera?"

Peter took a second to get his breathing under control. "Yeah," he said. "It's a bird."

Electro faced the nearest camera. "You heard it here, folks! It's a—It's a what?"

"It's a bird," Peter repeated clearly, squinting up at a corner of the sky.

"What's a bird?"

"Now it looks more like a plane."

"What is it?" Electro looked up too. "Is it a bird or a plane?!"

"No, wait, it's . . . Nova!"

Nova flew in from the opposite direction than they were looking. He came down low, holding an arm out to grab Harry. But Electro flickered, instantly turning around. The electricity around the podiums crackled to life again, leaping up at Nova. He screamed as he fell to the ground. He didn't get up.

"Ha! That's one dow—!" Another traffic cone landed on his head. Electro ripped it off his head, but it melted in his hand before he could throw it aside. He shook his hand to get the goop off. "Whoever threw that is DEAD!"

Electro roared in rage, sparks flying off of his skin. He splayed his hands, shooting arcs of lightning in all directions. Peter dodged in the direction of his teammates.

"Right, so . . . any other ideas?"

"Ideas? Yes," White Tiger replied, ducking. "Good ones? No."

"Well, I was thinking we try to trap him in some car batteries," Power Man said. He threw a trash can lid forward to intercept the blast headed his way. "I know it's collateral damage, but it's better than letting this fight go on longer than it has to."

"Car batteries are usually pretty full of juice, though," Peter said. "I don't know if they would have the capacity to hold him."

"Perhaps we should not use conductors of electricity this time," Iron Fist suggested as he set an old wooden palette on fire and sent it hurtling toward Electro. "Are there any good insulators around?"

Ionizing, trap, conductors. Something clicked in Peter's head. "That's it! I have a plan!"

"Using insulators?" Ava asked. "But there aren't enough around. Unless we use Power Man's idea and salvage the tires from some cars."

"Hey, the cars usually get hit by flying debris anyway," Luke defended. Coincidentally, a bolt of lightning hit a nearby van, setting it on fire. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah, but I have a different idea," Peter said. "Draw his fire while I set it up, okay?"

"Wait, are you sure it'll work?" Luke asked.

"I'm, like, ninety-five percent sure. Just give me a few minutes."

Peter leapt up onto the wall of the nearest building. He switched his web shooter settings to taser webs, surveying the layout of the street briefly. Now that he thought about his plan, he was suddenly a lot less sure about it. He could see the end result but he couldn't quite imagine how to make the little details work. But then he looked at Nova's prone form, and he knew he had to just do it.

He angled his wrists somewhat abstractly and shot the first strands.

Luke did not enjoy fighting Electro. Peter was right when he said that Luke was still vulnerable to electricity. It was one of the few things that could hurt him. He couldn't just punch Electro, nor could he take the hits to keep his teammates safe.

So yeah, he didn't like Electro at all.

And today was worse, because two civilians were in the mix (civilians that he knew), Peter had gotten zapped, and now Sam was unconscious. And all Luke could do was throw safety cones and other debris at Electro, and that wasn't even enough to hurt him. It felt like he wasn't doing enough. He could only distract Electro while Peter zipped around above their heads making . . . a web?

That actually went a long way in making Luke feel better. Peter always made sure to listen to their ideas, but Spider-Man was the best at making last-minute plans. Whatever Pete had in mind was probably going to work. In fact, Luke thought he already saw it working. Some lightning bolts were bending upwards, getting absorbed by the web. And the web was gradually concaving downward towards the street.

Well, Luke was pretty sure it was working according to plan. He didn't know if webs were supposed to work like that. And Peter flinched occasionally when electricity ran through the strands he was holding. But maybe that was nothing to worry about. They were all getting at least a little singed at this point.

The volley of electricity stopped abruptly. Electro sagged a little, panting. "God, you all are pests. I would have beaten you ages ago if I could just hit you!"

Luke snorted. "Right, yeah, if only you could hit us."

Electro looked up. "And what's the Spider doing? He doesn't expect me to just fly into that web, does he? I may not be a genius, but even I know better than that." He turned his attention back to the three conscious members of the team on the ground. "Eh, I'll get Spider-Man later. Now which one of you should I pick off first?"

Luke immediately stepped forward, but Peter responded before he could.

"Wait!" he said, crouched on a single horizontal silk thread that stretched the width of the street above the web. "My work here is done! Don't you want to check it out?"

Electro tilted his head up again. "What kind of a fool do you take me for? Just 'cause you tricked me that one time . . ."

"But now you can't hit me through it."

"Yes I can. My electricity has been going through that web the whole time."

"It can't now that the web's complete."

"A little spider web can't do that! A few little ropes can't stop me!"

Peter shrugged, swaying slightly in the fall breeze. "Who's the web expert here? You, or me?" he asked smugly.

"Oh yeah? Well I'm the electric expert, and I say you're easy pickin'!"

Electro pointed upwards, shooting a large bolt straight at Peter. Peter did not move to dodge, and Luke was worried for all of five seconds before the giant web bent downward, absorbing and dissipating the electricity. It concaved further, and the hair on Luke's arm prickled from the static in the air.

"Hey! What'd you do?!" Electro yelled as he was lifted off of his feet and straight into the web. He struggled, but the silk held. All the sparks he tried to shoot out were attracted back into the web. "What'd you do! This isn't fair—!"

Peter gagged Electro with a well-aimed gob of webbing as he swung around the web to land next to the rest of the team. He was slightly out of breath. "Well, I'm glad that worked."

"Excellent idea!" Danny smiled. "That was a very creative solution."

"How come you never used that trick with him before?" Ava demanded only half-jokingly. "That makes it so much easier!"

Peter's shoulders hunched and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, the idea just occurred to me. You know I've been researching spiders again. I don't want another hissy fit incident."

Ava's stance became less stern and she nodded understandingly. Luke remembered the night of the hissy fit revelation. Was Peter looking up spider stuff to see what else he might be doing weird? Luke hoped they hadn't acted too insensitive about it. He had only wanted Pete to know that he didn't think it was that too strange.

"Well, come on, let's get them out of here," Peter said, jogging to where MJ and Harry were climbing down from their temporary prisons. Luke and the others followed, naturally splitting up. Luke and Danny went to Sam while Ava and Peter handled the other two.

"Oh my God," MJ said as Ava helped her down. She was staring at Nova with wide eyes. "Is he okay? Can I help? I learned some basic nursing techniques from my friend's aunt."

Luke refrained from smirking. "We have similar training," he assured her, leaving out the fact that the team had learned some of it from the same source.

Danny was already kneeling by Sam, slipping his fingers beneath the helmet to feel for a pulse. "He is alive. He may have some burns, but he seems fine otherwise. I will try some smelling salts to see if I can rouse him." He pulled a small satchel from his belt, likely full of the many herbal scents Danny carried with him everywhere.

"That's a relief," Peter said. "And how are you two? Are you hurt at all?"

"I'm fine," Harry answered a little stiffly. "MJ got herself zapped because she started praising you."

MJ glared at him even as she held out her hand for White Tiger to examine her burnt fingertips. "It wasn't that bad of a shock. Besides, I was telling Electro how Spider-Man would obviously win, and he did." She smiled at Spider-Man. "That was a great job you did there. It used the electrical property of webs, right? Since they distort the magnetic field immediately around them? You just multiplied the effect by a million. It's really cool."

"Oh—uh—yeah, you're absolutely right," Peter replied. Knowing him, he was probably blushing beneath his mask. "Not many people know that."

"I've been doing a lot of research about you and spiders. I—I wrote a play about you, if you don't mind."

"A play? About little ol' me?"

Harry chuckled darkly. "Sure, act all humble. We all know you enjoy the spotlight."

Peter turned to him. "I didn't become a hero to be famous," he said softly. He tried to hide it, but Luke heard the hurt in his voice.

"Oh, no? Then what's with the bright red and blue suit?"

"It's—it was just an aesthetic thing—"

"As if. Don't you get enough news coverage when you're fighting my dad? You know, the guy you turned into a monster?"

A heavy silence hung in the air after that comment, and Luke stepped between them. "That's enough. Spider-Man didn't cause that and you know it. He wants to cure your dad as much as you do."

Despite facing a six-foot mountain of impermeable muscle, Harry stood his ground. "I had Venom once. I know it was made from Spider-Man's blood. I know that whatever's in him turned my dad into that—that creature. Just because Spidey's saved a few lives doesn't mean he's not a monster too!"

That was the last straw for Luke. "You're forgetting the fact that several of those lives that Spider-Man has saved have been you. You're lucky he's so forgiving or he would have stopped helping you a long time ago. Now get your scrawny back end into the school, or—"

"Or what? You're supposed to be the good guys, aren't you?"

Luke grit his teeth. "Yes we are. So doesn't that make you the bad guy here?"

Harry's eyes widened slightly before they narrowed again, and he stalked off towards the front doors.

"That was a little harsh, Power Man," Peter said from behind Luke, but his voice was hollow.

"Yeah, well, no one messes with my little buddy."

Peter chuckled. It sounded only slightly forced. "You sound like the Captain in Gilligan's Island."

"Nova's the one who almost got us stranded on an island that one time."

"Oh, yeah, you're right . . ."

Ava cleared her throat. "I'm going to escort Ms. Watson to the nurse. I'll meet you guys at the Med Bay."

MJ waved at them, looking even more regretful. "I'm sorry for all of this, and I'm sorry for what Harry said to you. He's going through a lot right now, but that excuse can really only go so far. I'll talk to him. But please know that I and a lot of other people think you're all doing a great job."

"Thanks," Peter replied humbly. "We try our best."

They watched the two girls go. "Are you okay?" Luke asked after a moment.

"I'm fine," Peter replied far too casually.

"I'm not talking about the electrical burns we both know you have."

Pete sighed. "It's—It's been a tough—wait, is it still morning? Wow, the day has hardly even started yet. And classes will at least be majorly delayed." He ran a hand over his head. The mask prevented him from running his fingers through his hair. "We need to have a short team meeting anyway, so we might as well use the time for that."

"What's the meeting for?"

"It'll really just be a formal notice of—um—my venom." He mumbled the last part.

"Oh, you got that today?"

"Yeah."

"How does it feel?"

"I'm not sure yet. I've only had it for a few hours." He looked over to where Danny was still wafting the smelling salts beneath Sam's nose. "It feels like a little too much, to have venom on top of everything else."

Luke had been getting the sense these past few days that Peter was a lot more freaked out about his changes than he let on. But then, that was true for a lot of things. For all his jokes and puns, Pete was the worrywart of the team. And having your body change so much was bound to be worrying. Maybe the meeting ought to run a little longer than Peter was planning. Addressing his issues in deeper depth than a formal report seemed like a good idea. Or at least Luke thought so. He would probably ask Danny for advice first. Danny was a lot better at these sorts of things than he was.

"Well," Luke said. "Sometimes it feels like too much to have invulnerable skin. But then someone like Electro comes around and I'm glad for every advantage I've got."

"I'm not going to bite people no matter how desperate I am or how evil they are," Peter maintained resolutely.

"Okay, so long as you're okay with me saving you every time you get in over your head."

"I can protect myself without venom."

Luke grinned. "Says the guy who's been kidnapped how many times now? At least three, I think."

Peter's lenses narrowed, but he was promptly distracted by Danny's happy exclamation.

"Nova is waking!"

Peter and Luke rushed to kneel by his side. Sam was groaning as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His arms shook slightly.

"About time," Peter said jokingly. "I was afraid we'd have to carry you."

"I think I deserve a little special treatment after my heroic sacrifice," Sam said somewhat blearily.

"He may have a point, Spidey," Luke said. "He sounds like he won't be able to walk straight anyway."

"Ugh, fine." Peter helped Danny pull Sam up. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was hit by a truck and then the same truck took a ride through every single nerve in my body."

"So the usual, then."

"Yup."

Luke shook his head. "And then you wonder why your aunt worries so much."

"Familiarity with danger is better than facing the unknown," Danny said wisely.

"What he said," Peter agreed.

They began walk towards the sound of an approaching Jump Jet. Sam looked up at the web as they passed beneath where Electro was stuck. "Whoa," he said. "I did not notice that five seconds ago. How exactly did you get him to trap himself in something that huge and, you know, noticeable?"

"You'll get the rundown on the Helicarrier, okay?"

Muffled shouts came from Electro, likely unintelligible curses, as the jet touched down onto the street.

Fun Fact:

Spider webs naturally move towards nearby charged particles. This makes them ideal for catching insects because the act of flying charges insects with static. Webs are literally like a fly magnet. In fact, spider webs can actually alter the Earth's electromagnetic field immediately surrounding it, although that translates to only a few millimeters for regular webs. I figure that a giant web made with special electricity conducting silk would expand the effect appreciably.