Chapter 1: Great Power
"I know you're out there you wall crawling menace." A voiced echoed throughout the busy city of New York.
"It is the duty of every New Yorker to report the actions of these masked miscreants, so listen up! As long as J. Jonah Jameson is CEO of 'Daily Bugle Communications', I won't rest until New Yorker has seen the last of Spider-Ma-!" A shot of web came across from nowhere and struck the large televised billboard that J. Jonah Jameson was broadcasting on, causing the video to short circuit a little.
"And a good morning to you, J. Jonah Loud mouth." The one and only Spider-Man greeted in sarcasm as he swung from his string of web, hearing the audio kick back off to its usual spiel of discrediting him and framing him as a menace.
"Other kids I know, start their day with orange juice. Me, I get yelled at by 100-foot tall cranky pants." He continues to swing from building to building, street to street.
"Where's a little love for the spider-guy? I'm out here alone every day, trying the best I can at this hero routine. It's not easy learning the ropes by yourself. Let's face it… 'INTRODUCTION TO SUPER HEROING" isn't exactly a school elective. Speaking of school, I still have to pick up a cake for Aunt May before first period. Then it's some hang time with my best pals Cassidy, MJ and Harry, and maybe a nap between classes." He told viewers as he stopped on a rooftop to watch a cop car skid and lose control, "But first I'd better save that cop in the skidding car."
He leapt into action as he gripped onto the side of the building, quickly spurting out a web net to stop the somersaulting car before it crashed into the little cake store on it's side. Though it didn't help save the poor window of said store..
The cop pulled himself out of the drivers window only to look up at the masked hero in appreciation. "I'm starting to think Jameson's wrong about you, Spidey."
"Spread the word, Chief!"
Bounding off to the place where the crime happened, Spider-Man dropped to the ground outside a damaged van with its doors blasted open. Upon further inspection he saw that the van and bits of the surrounding area was covered in a yellowish, sticky substance.
"Hi ya, Bug-Brain. I knew that would draw you out." Emerging from the van, a bald man wearing dark clothing and goggles walked out holding onto two bags with a smug smile placed on his face.
"Oh, great. The Trapster. I've been Spider-Man for about a year, and I've already fought this glue stick three times." A series of small cartoon drawings showing each interaction of Spider-Man and Trapster ending up in F grades and the last one becoming an F-.. "Do they even give F minus minus? Let's see if I've learned anything from my mistakes. Fourth time's gotta be the charm." Spider-Man grumbled as he got into a fighting position.
Trapster quickly pulled out his supersize glue gun and took the first shot, ultimately missing as Spider-Man jumped out of his line of fire. He somersaulted down and threw a mean right hook and landing it straight onto Trapsters' face forcing him bask and crashing into a nearby vehicle. The villain let out a grunt as he pulled himself off the ground after the collision, he let out a chuckle as he pushed two buttons that connected to two glue bombs as he threw them at the teen hero. Quickly jumping into the air, Spider-Man kicked them both away from his general direction and watching them explode only to be distracted when he was another one roll from the debris to which it also exploded. He catapulted himself away from the burst as bits of glue started flying around, only to be hit by the chunks and get stuck a side of building. He struggled to get himself free from the sticky situation not noticing Trapster had his gun locked onto him and ready to fire. Just by the last second was Spider-Man quick enough to shoot out a small bundle of his web straight on the nuzzle of his gun before he pressed the trigger, effectively causing the backpack itself to blow up from backup of glue not being released.
Finally escaping from the yellow glue, Spidey sprung back to the ground only to see that the Trapster himself was trapped in his own creation. "This is when I leave the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man note. Can I burrow a pen?" He cheeky asked watching the older mans eyes narrow in annoyance, only to widen in fear as he let out a jumble of noises from his mouth being covered.
"Interesting.." Spidey leaned back in confusion as he slowly looked around the area. Not finding a clear threat, Spider-Man scratched the top of his head in confusion until he heard a soft humming sound become louder. Turning around he directed his sights upwards to see a rather large ship floating above the buildings of town.
"Whoa. The S.H.I.E.L.D Hellicarrier is coming in low."
"Spider-Man.."
"Huh?" Gasping in surprise, Spidey swivelled around to see Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D himself stand before him.
"You super spies make it a point to sneak up on hard-working heroes?"
"Kid," Fury only had to point to the right of him for the young hero to see the utmost chaos from having taken down Trapster. Glue stuck to anything and everything with buildings also being trashed with holes and broken windows, along with damaged vehicles.
"We got to talk."
"No ones saying you didn't stop the bad guy, but look around you. Is this the way Captain America would have done it?" Nick gestured to a police officer who was trying to yank his horse out of a glue puddle.
"Cap would have stopped Trapster in five seconds. You took three minutes, with lots of collateral damage."
"I do a good job!"
"For a clueless rookie," Fury uttered as he walked around the boy.
"Yeah. Ooh, huh?"
"Look, everyone starts out clueless. Even Iron Man back when he was a novice." As a scene pops up into Spidey's head, he couldn't help but cringe at the possible amount of disarray that would have come out of Tony Stark first becoming Iron Man.
"But he learned.. would you say if I could help you turn eventually into right now for Spider-Man?"
Spidey let out a dry chuckle as he shook his head in disbelief, "I knew it. You want me to buy a line of self-help books, not interested." Veering back to walk away from Fury the young boy couldn't help but pull at his tights as to indicate he had empty pockets. "Besides, I'm tapped out until payday, so if we're all done here I'm going to —"
"I'm serious Peter Parker."
Coming up to a sudden halt, Spider-Man, or better known as Peter, whirled around to gape at the older man. "You know?"
"Everything. Super spy, remember?" Fury retorted smugly.
Memories of his times with his Aunt May, Uncle Ben and his friend Cassidy flew about in his mind: from moments he and Uncle Ben were playing around with a chemistry set while Aunt May and Cassidy brought over lunch, to when he got bit by the radioactive spider and discovering his powers, right to that fateful day where he lost his uncle.
"With great power, comes great responsibility. Good words from a good man."
"Uncle Ben was the best.." Peter mumbled while looking away from Fury in a moment of grief.
"Its been, what, a year now?"
"Today would have been his birthday."
Fury let out a small puff of air from his nose while placing a comforting hand on the teens shoulder, "You've honoured him doing what you do. Now I'm offering the chance to do better, to real learn about responsibility."
"Translation?" Peter asked in confusion, not quite getting where Fury was coming from.
"I want to S.H.I.E.L.D train you to be a better Spider-Man. The Ultimate Spider-Man."
"And how ultimate IS ultimate?"
After that exact question they both heard feet running off as Peter side stepped to view the Trapster running off. Fury quickly shot a laser beam up in the air, which managed to hit a metal pole, causing it to break off the rest of it. Said pole particle bounded off a few buildings only for it to whack Trapster upside the head leaving him to collapse on to the road.
"That ultimate."
"Sweet!" The red and blue hero cheered, only to be interrupted by his mobile ringing. Quickly glancing at the phone to turn silence the call, he saw Mary-Jane's photo on his screen which caused him groan, knowing he might get a lecture from one of his fiesty red-headed friends.
"I should probably set my ultimate cell phone to ultimate vibrate." He chuckled.
"Your tech needs an upgrade, try ours." Fury offered, handing Peter a new and improved web shooter.
"S.H.I.E.L.D tech guys developed this next gen web shooter."
"Too big, too clunky.." The young boy states moving his wrist around, only to quickly move his arm away when Fury held his hand out to take the gadget back, "I didn't say no."
"With your talent and my training, you could learn to be a better hero. The next Cap, the next Iron Man. One of the greats." Fury states as he watched Peter get a little ego boost.
"Thanks for the offer but, I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." Peter revealed as he slowly backed away from the director. "Plus I already have a kick-ass partner that I work with, and I don't think she would appreciate if I left her."
A small sneeze escaped Cassidy as she narrowly missed whacking her head against the shelf of her locker. "I better not be getting sick, I wouldn't hear the end of it from Peter.."
She tugged her Van Halen tank top from her jeans, as she quickly grabbed the books she needed for her first few classes and placing them in her bag.
"Hey, Cass!" A voice called out as the auburn haired girl shut her locker door. Turning around she was greeted with the smiling face of Mary-Jane.
"'Sup MJ, what can I do for you this fine morning?" The shorter girl eased out as she leant against the wall.
"I've been trying to get a hold of Peter all morning, have you seen him?"
Tightening up a red and black flannel around her waist, Cassidy thought for a moment before shaking her head as a no. "He left before I did this morning so I'm not sure, sorry love."
Mary-Jane let out a sigh before readjusting her bag on her shoulder, "That's ok, I haven't checked his locker yet so I'm hoping he's there."
'You and me both.' Cassidy thought with a huff. She flicked her bangs away from her eye as she walked off to go find her little heroic friend.
"Honestly it sometimes gets on my nerves when he doesn't answer my calls. Surely its not that hard, even a text will suffice!" Mary-Jane droned out as they walked toward Peter's locker.
"Well you know Pete, he either has his phone off or silent.." Cassidy mumbled trying her best to cover for her childhood friend TO her other childhood friend, quickly taking interest in her boots as they neared to the impending locker, she zoned out as Mary-Jane talked about the upcoming projects she wanted to do for the Daily Bugle.
'If he's not there I'll gladly make sure that he doesn't spurt out webs for a week!'
"Peter!" Mary-Jane's voiced snapped the girl out of her thoughts as they came across said boy.
"I've been trying to call you all morning. Where have you been?"
"Uh.." Peter started as he looked at Cassidy for help, who in return gave him small glare from behind the other girl.
"Bus broke down?" He awkwardly replied, as May-Jane narrowed her eyes in amusement, while the other red-head rolled her eyes with a soft scoff leaving her lips.
"Sure," she chuckled while pulling out her phone, "I wanted to show you this."
Hearing the loud voice of J. Jonah Jameson, Cassidy moved over next to Peter to get a quick look at the video who she knew would be about the so-called "Spider-Menace".
"Doesn't that jerk ever shut up?" Scoffed Peter as he glared at the phone, hoping to somehow burn a hole where the infuriating reporter once was, only to turn that glare to the right of him as he heard a snort coming from Cassidy.
"Someday that jerk will give this journalism student her first job."
"You seriously want to work for Jameson?" Cassidy asked as she pulled her hair into a messy bun, already getting annoyed with the tresses.
"Total nightmare." Peter added on.
"Then that's what it takes. Jameson's the biggest game in town. Kids like us have to be realistic, Petey. We can't all be like Harry." Declared the inspired girl as the trio looked in the direction of where the said boy himself emerged from.
"Hey, Hazzah!" Cassidy yelled out to the approaching teen, "How's it hanging my guy?" Hand raised for a high five, she got one in return from the boy who bellowed out a laugh.
"Oh you know just Dad railing me down about my grades, nothing too shocking." Harry responded, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "You ready for class, Cass?"
"Oh you mean my tormenting nightmare called math? Yeah, absolutely. Nothing boosts my serotonin more," with a sarcastic quip she pulled out of his embrace with a smirk on her face. Looking back at Peter, she noticed him still getting his gear together for classes. "Yo, Pete. I need to talk to you about something for May at lunch, so don't go runnin' off ok?"
Getting a nod back, she waved at Mary-Jane before making her way to class with Harry by her side, easily making conversation about the next movie to watch for their annual movie night.
"Dude, locker-knocker time again? Thompson's such a tool." Harry scoffed as he grabbed his lunch tray with Peter in tow trying to hide a cringe when the lunch lady winked at him flirtatiously. Quickly pulling a seat next Cassidy, and Harry next to Mary-Jane, they dropped their trays down onto the table and dug in to their food.
"If that's the worst thing that happens to me today, I'm coming out ahead." Peter chuckles scraping a bit of potato onto his fork.
Letting out a huff with a shake of her head, Cassidy bounced her fork upon her jello-cup a small frown set on her features. "You would think that he would grow a brain and cut it out, it's not like we're all five anymore.."
Taking a glance to the left of her, Cassidy's frown only deepened, "Pete sweetheart, you feeling ok?" Her concerns only heighten as she watches the fork fall from his hand and thud against his food. Before she could get another sentence in, an explosion took place behind her as she skyrocketed across the table, only narrowly grabbing Mary-Jane to shield her from any debris coming their way. With a crash to the floor, she felt bits of rubble smack her in the head and a painful sensation to erupt afterwards. Groaning from the hit, Cassidy pulled herself off of her friend to see Peter do the exact thing to Harry, "Case are you ok? Are you hurt?" She vaguely looked at Mary-Jane before placing her left hand behind her head. Feeling a warm, sticky substance, she immediately retracted her hand with a hiss to find a small layer of blood glistening where it shouldn't.
'Well shit. That's not good..' She muttered swiftly wiping her hand onto her flannel. Looking to where the blast came from she withheld a groan as she witnessed three of The Frightful Four members come into light, with their principal floating not far behind them.
"Attention students, your principal has something to tell you." The villain, Wizard, announced as he levitated Midtown High's principal into the broken building.
"Students, your attention, please. The school is now under the control of The Fri-"
"The Frightful Four." He was interrupted by the only female in the villain group, Thundra.
"Uh, there are only three of you." Mary-Jane stated matter-of-factly, only to have the principal thrown across the room into a wall as a response to her statement along with the yell of the word silence!
Feeling someone grab Cassidy's right arm, she was hoisted to a standing position with a grunt by Harry, only to stumble a little from the fast change of stances which her wound didn't agree with.
"Before the Trapster was captured, he learned Spider-Man attends this school." Hearing this information, both Cassidy and Peter shared a discreet look of horror as one of their many fears have taken place. "And unless he gives himself up, we'll tear this place down, brick by brick." Wizard threatened , levitating himself further into the cafeteria, only to stop shirt as he heres a boy let out a whoop in excitement. "We're serious!" He clarified which seemed to shut the boy up, "Klaw.."
Gesturing his hand, Klaw made an orb form in his metal claw which then produced a high pitched noise and directly aimed it at the hollering boy. The student managed to move out of the way in the last second and in his previous spot only a small crater remained. Along with that, the walls started to shake and rubble and dust started fall from the roof startling all the students into a panic. Briskly grabbing Peter's hand, Cassidy pulled the boy back to her side as she placed herself between her two normal friends and the villain to try and deter him from harming them.
"So, who is our mysterious wall crawler? A teacher? A student? A cafeteria lady?" Wizard started to interrogate as he looked from different groups of civilians. Once Wizard set his eyes onto Cassidy and her friends she stiffened. 'Not good, not good at all! I can't even try to help or even contact the team and Fury if I wanted to.'
Biting her lip, Cassidy tried think of a solution that didn't out hers or Peter's superhero identity or cause harm to her friends and fellow students. A dull throb overcame her senses as the wound on the back of head started to feel irritated, she softly closed her eyes with a disgruntled sigh and placed her free hand to put pressure on the injury. A small jolt startled her causing her eyes to open in surprise, only to see that she was no longer looking at the weirdly shaved moustached face, but instead it was the back of Peter's head. "Peter.." She whispered in warning, trying to pull said boy back to her side as she heard Wizard speak up again, but was instead faintly pushed into Harry's arms by Peter.
"They seem reluctant to talk. Klaw. Make them listen to reason."
Without another word, Klaw activated the orb as a deep noise vibrated around the room effectively causing students and staff alike to scream out in pain and terror. A small cry of pain escaped Cassidy's gnawed lips as the noise only increased the spasm of pain that ensued. Hearing the pained scream coming from her, Peter immediately turned to face her just to find her drop to her knees and cover her ears to try and drown the noise out, which in turn showed him the blood that was starting seep down her neck and stain her white shirt.
"STOP IT!" He cried out in anguish turning to face Wizard with a heated glare set upon his features.
"Peter, no!" Mary-Jane called out to stop the boy from facing him off. She grabbed ahold of his arm to pull him back, just to retract in fear once Wizard set his eyes on the small group.
Wizard let out a chuckle as he eyed the young boy cockily. "Definitely not Spider-Man."
"I'll crush the runt." Thundra exclaimed as she neared them with her fists raised, ready to pound anyone who dares to get in her way.
"Don't crush him, make an example out of him." Not a moment later Peter was on the floor screaming in agony as he was hit with one of Klaw's blasts. Mary-Jane cried out in fear as Harry tugged her to him so she didn't experience the same fate as his dear friend, both of them not noticing Cassidy shakily getting up at her best friends cries.
Looking around she found a stray chair beside her which she quickly took ahold of and bolted toward the sound villain somehow avoid the other two villains. "BACK THE FUCK OFF!" She shouted out whacking the chair at Klaw's back, breaking her little weapon of choice for the time being. Gasps echoed throughout the place as Klaw turned around to the small red head. Slowly inching away from him and dropping the remainder of the chairs. 'Ok, maybe not the best course of action, but it is what it is..' Cassidy thought in exasperation as she looked towards Peter to see if he was ok just to get a sound beam in the face.
"Cassidy!" Harry and Mary-Jane yell as they and Peter watch her collide with a surrounding table and slide across the floor. Cassidy cried out as she felt her head hit the floor and another wave of sound beams hit her. The young girl tried to crawl away, but found it difficult to move even a centimetre with the constant downpour of pain and sounds.
"Stop it! I'll talk, I'll talk!" Peter yelled out in desperation as he watched Cassidy's body struggle to move, then collapse in a small heap.
"Well, you have something to say, boy?" Wizard asked patronisingly, watching as he Peter pulled himself up against a table with a bunch of food still gathered on top.
"Listen up." Peter begins looking over his shoulder to eye up the villain, "Everyone needs to hear this.. FOOD FIGHT!" Throwing a lunch tray straight at Wizard caused an uproar of students to finally fight for themselves by throwing food and even random objects at The Frightful Four. With this distraction in hand gave Peter the opportunity to quickly find a place to change into his hero attire and to finally kick some villain ass. From his place high above on a pillar he watched as Mary-Jane carefully dragged Cassidy's unconscious figure out of harms way and take shelter behind an upturned table with Harry near by.
"This is nuts! How do they know? How did they find me?" Questions upon questions filled his mind as he unbuttoned his shirt, only to find a small tracking device on his suit where his armpit is, ticking away mindlessly. 'Fury was right.' Crushing the gadget between his fingers as he looked back to where his friends were, 'I have a lot to learn about responsibility. And because of that, my school and friends are endanger, and even worse my best friend, no, my partner has been injured.'
A soft whimper escaped Cassidy's mouth as she started to come to. He could vaguely hear a large commotion coming all around her, but the white noise of her ears ringing cancelled majority out. Opening her eyes to the harsh L.E.D lights, she briskly closed her eyes in frustration as that caused a wave of nausea to overcome her. 'Come on Cass, you gotta get a grip! What would the team think of you if they saw you like this?'
Opening her eyes back open her blue hues were able to slowly get their bearings as she saw food being thrown around in the air.
"The fuck.."
"Oh Cassidy! Thank god, you're ok."
Looking to her left and up she noticed Mary-Jane hovering over her, her head blocking out the excruciating light. "MJ, have I told you how much of a saint that you are?"
"Everyday." The red head chuckled, though it quickly went as a frown found its place her face. "How's your head? I've used your flannel to put pressure on the wound, but thankfully it doesn't look too deep!"
Slowly sitting up with the assistance of her friend, who still held the clothing against her head, Cassidy blinked away the blurriness that lingered in her sight but then again she could have a concussion. After moving to sit, the waves of nausea started to roll over her continuously as she dry heaved a little and pushed Mary-jane away just incase of an incoming puke. 'Yeah no, definitely have a concussion.' With an irritated sigh, she faintly closed her eyes to keep the light out, which she hopes would lessen the nausea feeling and not trigger it. Cassidy felt Mary-Jane sit her back against the table they were currently hiding behind to give her a little stability.
"I most definitely have a concussion, but other than that I'm fine except for the head injury."
"Well it's not good for the concussion, but I'm glad that's the only thing you got going for you. You shouldn't have faced that villain Cass, you could have seriously been injured even worse than you already are!" Mary-Jane reprimanded, watching a cringe twitch onto Cassidy's face as she turned her head away in shame.
"I know.." Cassidy replied feebly, "but I couldn't stand by to see Peter get hurt. He's my friend, and I know he would do the same for me."
With an exhale from her nose Mary-Jane pulled her friend into a loose hug. "I get it, but I can't bear the thought of you getting severely injure, you and Peter both." Looking up to meet Mary-Jane's gaze Cassidy let out a soft smile.
"And besides, Spider-Man is here to help now."
'He's what?!'
Snapping her head behind her and awkwardly pulling herself up against the table, she finally got visual of the red and blue hero swinging around the room kicking the remaining members of The Frightful Four's butt.
"How in the world did I miss this?" She asked incredulously.
"Well for starters you have been unconscious and also sporting a concussion." Mary-Jane quipped in amusement, whipping her phone out to video as much as possible. Mouth agape Cassidy could only watch on as her best friend fought against evil while she sat back nursing a ridiculous headache. Pulling herself up to her feet, she felt her flannel flutter down to the floor before retrieving it and tying it to her waist.
"Let's not just sit here, we've got to make sure as many people get out as safely as 's one less thing Spider-Man has to worry about." With a nod, Mary-Jane jumped to her feet before moving away from the table with Cassidy stumbling a little behind her. Luckily for the both of them they managed to move just in time before Thundra crashed into the table they were hiding behind by a hit from Spider-Man.
As Cassidy moved her fellow peers and teachers to the cafeteria exit, she looked behind her to see Spider-Man spurt webs out at Thundra, only for her to grip the webs and throw the boy to the ground. With a gasp she ran as fast as she could to get to her partner before Thundra could get to him, only for the villain to get cut short as se slipped on some jello, courtesy of Mary-Jane kicking it in the way. A loud grunt escaped Thundra as she slid across the floor and crashed into more tables and chairs further away from the young hero.
"Here's my first front page story." Mary-Jane calmly stated videoing around the room for a decent amount of footage. Stopping her phone in front of Claw she let out a gulp as the villain charged up his weapon and shot a sound beam at Mary-Jane, making her cry out in pain as her hand got hit which sent her phone flying.
"Hey. Leave her alone!" Harry exclaimed, protectively pulling his friend behind him, only to get a beam to the chest in rust that sent him colliding against the floor.
"Harry!" Cassidy shrieked as she rushed over to the boy. She staggered over to the boy who was only a couple of feet away from her, feeling another round of dizziness and nauseas hit her she stumbled to her knees and knelt protectively in front of the boy with a glare on her face.
"This school is filled with wannabe heroes." Klaw announced in disgust as his sights never left Cassidy and Harry. Before he could even think of aiming another assault onto the pair Spider-Man quickly jumped in and kicked the man in the face.
Looking back towards his friends, Spider-Man watched as Cassidy relaxed little before he saw her try and wake Harry up. Catching a fist before it strikes his face, Spider-Man turned to his enemy and started to squirting out his webs to mummify Thundra. "Let's dance." he declared as he spun the woman away from him with the cheers of his student peers backing him up, which quickly turned to screams of terror as metal gadgets attached to their backs and started to make them float.
"Floating hostages." Wizard voiced out, "Spider-Man won't dare attack."
Even with this slightly flawless plan, Wizard gasped in surprise as Spider-Man picked up Thundra and seemed to about to throw her towards him. Swiftly pulling the floating students to coral him as a form of shield, he didn't;t take notice of Spider-Man dropping the lady and slide across the floor to attack him from behind.
"Real smart, Wiz. You left the backdoor open." Grunting, the young hero shot out his webs onto Wizards back and flung the villain into a pile of destroyed tables and chairs. Unravelling from the stack, Wizard looked up in time to be kicked in the face by Spider-Man which sent him flying out of the cafeteria and into the school hall.
As Cassidy was about to run after Spider-Man she heard the telltale signs of the police finally arriving to arrest the trio of villains. With an exhale of relief or even exhaustion, she looked around to find Mary-Jane briskly walking towards her and Harry, who has yet to awaken. "As far as I can tell he could possibly also have a concussion from the way he landed." Cassidy concluded to Mary-Jane as she saw some police officers and paramedics file through the cafeteria doors, just missing the villains who got out a few minutes before they did.
"You can worry about him later, lets just check you out first and make sure you didn't make yourself feel worse." Mary-Jane asserted as she flagged down a paramedic. Cassidy only let out a weak chuckle as she turned to look at the hole in the wall she she could make out the wails of a few sirens go into the distance, no doubt trying to find the members of The Frightful Four.
"Cassidy, Harry!"
Looking towards the cafeteria doors, she saw Peter burst through them as he rushed over to her, Mary-Jane who was cradling an unconscious Harry, trying to wake him up.
"Pete," she sighed in ease, pushing herself to get off the floor. She teetered a little only to be caught in her best friends arms as they both hugged each other tightly.
"You're not severely hurt are you?" He whispered into her hair as she rubbed his back in comfort.
"Nah, just another concussion. Nothing to cry over." She teased in response letting the boy go, but still holding on to him for a little stability.
"Miss, we need to get you to the hospital some can check to make sure you don't have a severe head trauma." With a small nod to the paramedic who was previously treating her she allowed the woman to guide her to a gurney as she situated herself comfortably. "I guess I'll meet you and definitely May at the hospital." Cassidy grinned, making a small smile appear on Peter's face.
"Yeah. I'll see you soon."
With a small wave to Peter and Mary-Jane and a courteous nod to Mr. Osborn who appeared out of nowhere to get his son, Cassidy was finally wheeled out to an ambulance that was awaiting her when another pulsing pain came to her head. Not one from the wound per-se, but from anxiety.
'Ah shit.. how the hell do I tell Fury...'
Carefully walking through the door to the Parker house, Cassidy was led by none other than Aunt May, while Peter held her bag.
"Now Cassidy, you'll need to rest up. You're lucky that it wasn't a serious concussion."
"Yes ma'am." Cassidy saluted as she fell onto the arm chair closest to her and snuggled down.
Hearing May go about into the kitchen, Cassidy stomach made a loud grumble which Peter took notice at as he placed her stuff next to her. "Don't look at me like that, I haven't eaten lunch!" She scowled as Peter barked out a laugh and moved to the kitchen. Heaving herself up, she also travelled to her favourite place in the house and leant against the bench as she watched May continue chopping up vegetables, which she probably stopped once she heard the news of what happened to Cassidy.
With guilt bubbling up inside her she couldn't help but nibble on her bottom lip as she furrowed her brows in annoyance. Not at the situation, but at herself.. about how she could have done things better to help save people.
"You know what?" May started, which caught Cassidy's attention. "If we had Norman Osborn's money, I'd put you both in private school immediately." She finished which caused Cassidy to let out a small giggle.
"Yeah, that'd be sweet. Maybe we can by a private island too!"
"Hey, when's dinner?" Peter asked as he swiped a bit of carrot from the chopping board.
"It's almost ready." May replied she gave the bowl of said to Cassidy to put on the dining table, "You just need to put the candles on the cake."
"Cake?"
Cassidy whip her head around to Peter to catch a glimpse of realisation flow over his face which quickly turned into shame.
"Yes the cake you promised to get into the city today. Ben's favourite." May continued as she turned around to face Peter. "You didn't get distracted again, did you Peter?"
"Uhm, I'm sorry Aunt May, I guess I.."
"It's alright. With all that happened today at school, I couldn't expect you to remember." May softly put a hand on his shoulder and gave a small squeeze of reassurance. May also turned around to see Cassidy hold a grim look on her face as well.
'Uncle Ben..'
"I'm just happy you both made it home safely. Even with our little concussed one over here." May jabbed, as Cassidy looked over with an amused look.
"I can probably say it won't be the last time, but it won't happen for a while yet." She chortled. "Now let's get dinner rolling I'm starting to get hangry!"
Clicking off the hairdryer, Cassidy placed the machine back to where it belongs before making sure the dressing on her head hadn't moved.
"I'm lucky enough to not need stitches but it still hurts like a motherfucker.."
Turning the light off in the bathroom, she made her way down the hall and stopped right outside Peter's bedroom door. With a heavy sigh, she softly knocked on the door and waited for Peter to allow her in. Once she heard his voice she opened the door to see him sitting on his bed with a photograph in his hands. He looked up to acknowledge her before looking down which was a hint that he was in a bit of an off mood. Gently closing the door she made her way to his side and sat to the left of him as she glanced down at the photo in his hands with a smile.
"I can't believe I let her down." He whispered, looking towards Cassidy only furrowed her eyebrows in confusion of whom he was talking about. Then it clicked.
"You didn't let her down, you never could." Cassidy assured him, placing her head on his shoulder in a form of comfort. "You did the best to your abilities today, we didn't know that this would happen of all days."
"Well it doesn't matter. The Frightful Four still got away, you and Harry got hurt because I was stupid enough not to check for any tracker device before coming to school." Huffing Peter dropped the photo on his bed and placed his head in his hands in anguish.
"Sweetheart look.. being a hero will never be easy." Cassidy explained as she carded her fingers through Peter's hair to console him. "Even the greatest heroes of all times make mistakes, and I think you keep forgetting you're only human, as well as a teenager. We don't get a book on 'How to be the Best Hero in the World'. This stuff takes time, mistakes have to be made so we can learn and build up our craft so we can make sure things like this doesn't happen in the future."
"But you got hurt.." Peter mumbled before leaning himself into Cassidy's hold.
"I'm a hero Petey, it's unfortunately part of the job. But I'm ok now, the only thing I'm annoyed about is how I couldn't help my partner when he needed me most and how I could have handled the situation a little better." Cassidy whispered in sadness. "Now what we both can do is get up, shake the dust off and strive for a better tomorrow and take these mistakes and turn them into lessons, yeah? Then we can be the ultimate versions of ourselves."
Looking up at the girl Peter couldn't help but let a small smile slip and nod at her words, his smile growing bigger once a grin was brought upon her face with his agreement.
"Awesome! Now I'm off to bed and I'll see you bright eyed and bushy tailed for school tomorrow. Goodnight." The red head gave a small pat on the brunettes back as she walked to his door.
"Goodnight." He said back as she left the room and she shut the door close behind her.
With a bit of pep in her step, Cassidy bounded her way to Aunt May's room to bid her goodnight before heading to hers. Shutting her door behind her, Cassidy quickly sat on her bed and waited a couple of minutes to ensure no one was going to come in. With a breath of relief leaving her lips she grabbed a watch from her bedside table, quickly pulling up its contents from a click of a button.
"Atlas, what can I do for you? I thought you wouldn't make contact today."
"Hello, Director Fury. So I uh, got some bad-ish news.."