Chapter 26: Focus on Distractions

Writing this chapter was like trying to run the TVA. I'll say no more on that front.

The life lesson I learned (relearned) this past month has been: ask for help when you're lost. So that's what I'm going to do here. Even though any relationships are quite a ways off in this story, I want to at least start hinting in a certain direction, but I have no idea who Peter should end up with. My two top choices are Ava or Sam. I can see it go either way. So what do you readers think? I'll take a final tally when I start the sequel.

Pink Lemonade: Ah, but don't forget how Rhino is, not to mention my bit of headcanon science a few chapters back . . .

AvidWriter14: Oh yeah, I'm going to have so much fun with Harry and MJ in future chapters. If you think about it, they're two of the coolest students at Midtown high while Peter is just Peter so far as everyone else knows (at least before this Science Fair). So Harry and MJ are kind of used to being the heralds of trends and opinions, and this may have gradually made them a little bit pompous and self-centered.

It was hard to wrench his gaze away from the giant, angry rhinoceros, but the sound of movement beside him made Peter turn his head.

There was MJ fumbling to take her phone out for a video. She was already muttering what sounded like possible headlines.

Beside her, Harry was looking far too pleased to see someone taking revenge on Flash.

Why didn't Peter have normal friends who immediately ran away from danger? Not that he could complain. He ran toward the danger most of the time. But still. He was the one with superpowers, so it made sense for him to stay. Not that they could know that. So . . .

Peter turned and bolted away, tugging MJ's and Harry's arms in hope that they would follow. Harry seemed to get the idea and pulled MJ's other arm. Together they got her attention. She complained that they were making her video shaky, but she began moving with them rather than against them. When they were going at a good pace, Peter let himself lag behind before he snuck into an alley. A part of him wished he could keep going with his friends to make sure they would be okay, but he couldn't ignore the rest of the people who could get hurt if this Rhino was half as mean as he sounded. He took a sharp left to stick near the school.

Bringing his communicator up to his mouth, he gave an overview of the situation, "There's a big baddie right in front of the school and he's after Flash. I need all hands on deck. Major warning: watch out for a wicked-looking horn."

Some affirmatives came through, and Sam had to make a comment, "How did Flash manage to catch the attention of any real big shots?"

"Well, he's really big, not necessarily a big shot. We probably would have heard of him before, so he's gotta be a newbie. We'll see if he gives the usual villain lecture. I'll be on the scene in a few minutes."

The alley behind the school was a perfect place for changing into a superhero suit. Peter had used it more times than he could count. It was like his own personal little changing roo—

Wait, why was there another pair of footsteps right behind him? Everyone should have been left behind by now. Peter glanced back to find Ava on his tail. "Ava? How'd you get here so fast?"

"I go to this school too, you know."

"Yeah, but—" Back at the front of the school, Flash screamed. "Never mind. Let's get suited up."

The small alley felt almost crowded with two people using it. Peter felt heat come into his cheeks when Ava took her shirt off. It wasn't that she was naked. No, she had her White Tiger suit underneath just like he had his own. But May and Ben had taught Peter to respect other people's privacy. He hastily spun around so his back was to her before he began taking his own clothes off.

He rummaged in his backpack for his mask, gloves, and web shooters. He hesitated with the last. Today would be he is official test to see if he could control his natural spinnerets while using his synthetic ones. Of course, it would have been a test anyway since they were supposed to go on patrol later. That meant he should be ready, right?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

"You ready?" Peter asked once he was fully suited up.

Ava nodded as she fixed her ponytail. "Always."

Peter tapped on his communicator. "Tiger and I are going in now. What are your ETAs?"

"I'm almost there. Flying through hallways is almost as bad as an obstacle course."

"I will take a little longer. I am coming from the other side of campus."

"It'll take me just another minute."

Wow, their reaction time was excellent at this point. Peter nodded, satisfied. "Gotcha. Get ready to rumble from the moment you arrive. Spidey out."

Ava looked at him, mask showing that she was raising an eyebrow. "Are you ready?"

"Yup, always," he shot back at her.

Together they ran back the way they had come. Peter quickly switched to swinging to get there as fast as possible. Thankfully, Rhino was still simply towering over Flash. It looked kind of like he was grinning, though it was a little hard to tell with the way his snout was. He must really be enjoying seeing Flash so terrified. Could he be a student then? There was no doubt that Flash had made a lot of enemies through his bullying. But that would mean that someone from school had just gone through a major mutant makeover . . .

Why did they need to make such a huge spectacle by taking revenge on Flash? This was exactly what Peter had avoided by forgiving (or at least ignoring) Flash. Yes, he still had his fair share of anti-Flash fantasies, but (aside from a few priceless pranks) he hadn't actually acted on any of them. Once he got his powers, the idea of revenge had quickly faded away. Partially it was because he hadn't exactly enjoyed his first taste of revenge with his uncle's killer. But it was also because he knew that giving Flash a taste of his own medicine wouldn't do anything except possibly make him more insufferable.

How had Luke said it? You had to be the change you were looking for. Yeah, that's the route Peter had taken, and he didn't regret it for one second.

"Hey! Big ugly!" Peter shouted as he swung in. "You've got this thing on your nose. Maybe try blowing it?"

Okay, so he still got to make fun of people in this line of work, but it was for the sole purpose of distracting the bad guys. Plus, it made Peter feel better. Not that he was inclined to admit that all the time. Although the smart villains like Doc Ock guessed it accurately enough anyway.

"Who's that? Are you try'in ta make fun of me?" Rhino demanded, glancing around. Hm, maybe he had the terrible sight of a real rhino. That could work in their favor.

"Spider-Man!" Flash exclaimed, effectively ruining Peter's element of surprise. "Please save me!"

"Spider-Man?" Rhino repeated. "I can squish him like a bug!"

Peter rolled his eyes as he swung low, grabbing Flash in a fireman's hold over the shoulder. "Wow, how original. I think almost every villain I've ever fought has told me that one."

Rhino blinked. "Hey, where'd Flash go? What are you doing, Spider-Man?"

Glancing back, Peter saw White Tiger take Flash's place on the steps. She put her hands on her hips. "You're kind of slow on the uptake, aren't you? We're the superheroes, so obviously we're here to stop you."

Rhino snarled and slammed a fist at Ava. He was surprisingly fast for someone so huge, but Ava was expecting it. She jumped away, and the moment his hand was low enough she jumped on, climbing up to cause some damage.

Satisfied that she was handling it well (and with some level of witty banter), Peter landed on the street some distance away. It took a moment to get Flash onto his feet. "Hey, I'm guessing you're the Flash guy he's after, right?"

Flash nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know who he is or why he—" He bit his lip. "You've gotta help me, Spidey, please! I think he wants to kill me!"

Peter was impressed that Flash was aware he had made some people rather angry. "Don't worry, I'll protect you. But if you have any idea why he's after you, you need to tell me. Any info at all might be able to help us." It was kind of cruel, but it really was true. Flash might be able to figure out who Rhino actually was. Then they could try to talk him down or something. It worked occasionally.

"Um . . . I don't know . . ." Flash looked down at his sneakers. "Hasn't Parker already told you enough about me?"

Oof, this was going to take some finesse. "Parker? Who are you talking abou—Oh! You mean the Parker guy who helped make the Iron Spider suit for me? We never really spoke much."

Boom. What a performance! He should win a couple Oscars for this.

"You didn't?" Flash sounded a little relieved. "Well, then—uh—You see, I might've been a bit mean to a few students . . ."

This was taking too long. "Okay, I think I see where this is going. You should probably run at this point. My team and I will—" A strong tingle from his spider sense almost had him moving without Flash. Peter grabbed him by his shirt and pulled. "Get down!"

What might have been the remains of Flash's car zoomed directly over where they had just been standing. Flash screamed and scrambled back to his feet so he could run. "I hear you, Spidey! I'm going home!"

"Stay safe!" Peter yelled after him. He flipped up and hurried back to the fight. The others had arrived, although that didn't seem to be helping much. Nova's shots were simply charring Rhino's thick skin. White Tiger's scratches were only visible on his snout and large hands. Iron Fist was climbing out of one of the school's windows where he had apparently been thrown. Power Man had already realized his punches wouldn't do much, so he was grabbing other debris to use.

And Rhino seemed to have finally noticed that his target was getting away. "FLASH!" he practically roared. "I'm coming for you!"

Peter's spider sense rang out again when Rhino charged his way. But instead of immediately dodging, Peter timed it right so he could leap up and stick to his back. "Whee! Look at me! I'm riding a bucking Rhino!"

On cue, Rhino started twisting and reaching for his unwanted rider. "Get off me, bug!"

"Okay, I let it slide the first time, but now I need to remind you that spiders are arachnids, not bugs. Honestly, I say that so much. Doesn't anyone ever listen to me?" Peter shot some webbing at Rhino's face and held onto the strands as if they were reigns. Sometimes he could steer big guys like this. He gave a hard tug to the right. Rhino shook his head left and kept on going.

Well, it had been worth a try.

Peter gave up on those webs and spoke into his communicator. "Flash is trying to get away. If we can't stop Rhino, then we'll at least focus on distracting him from Flash first."

"You can't distract me, Spider-Man," Rhino snarled. "I'm as focused as—as—as someone who's really focused!"

"Uh, sure, let's pretend that was a good comeback." Peter carefully started climbing up the thick gray neck. If he could just slow Rhino down for a second, the team could catch up easily and they could regroup.

Spider sense again. Peter had to let go completely and drop back to the street before he was grabbed. He wanted to keep going after Rhino, but by now he understood how unadvisable it was to rush in without backup.

The others came running (and in Sam's case flying). They didn't stop, so Peter joined them in the chase.

"How are we going to stop that thing?" Ava asked. "His skin is as thick as Power Man's!"

"Really?" Peter said, frowning. "That's not good. Did anything you tried seem to work?"

"My blasts hurt him," Sam offered. "And I can pour more power into them."

"I was able to take a glimpse at his Chi," Danny said. "His mind is very confused. Whoever he is, he is not feeling like himself."

Peter took it all in. "All right, how about Nova takes the lead in the fight. Iron Fist will help, including with Chi energy just in case we can calm Rhino down. The rest of us will do what we can. I'm going to try tripping him up with a web. Nova, can you fly me ahead?"

"Gotcha." Sam flew closer and lifted Peter up before he took off at full speed.

Peter was normally perfectly okay with flying, but Nova's top speed was disturbingly fast even for him. There was also the fact that Nova was the one doing the flying, and he had a tendency to take risks that made Peter's spider sense tingle like crazy. Like how he was getting way too close to that power line—!

"Stop flinching whenever we get close to stuff," Nova said. "It's annoying."

"I'll stop flinching when you stop nearly colliding with everything!" Peter shot back.

Sam stuck his tongue out. "I never actually hit anything!"

"What about that time with the hotdog stand where—"

"Oh, look at that, we've reached your destination." Sam unceremoniously let him go. Peter had to bring himself to a stop by swinging around a traffic light.

"Thanks a lot, Bucket Head!"

"You're welcome!"

Huffing exasperatedly, Peter got to work on a tripwire web. He was a good few New York City blocks ahead of Rhino. The street was already nearly devoid of people. Just one cab zoomed by, and—was Flash in it? Peter supposed it was faster than simply running.

The ground was beginning to vibrate from Rhino's approach. Peter didn't have time for anything extravagant, just something hard to see and sturdy. And, just in case, he prepared himself in a web slingshot. Throwing himself at Rhino might be a bad idea if his skin was really as thick as the team said, but a solid kick could knock him down even if the web didn't.

Rhino came charging down the street, swatting at Sam and any others who tried to stop him. "Get away!" he bellowed. "Or else Rhino's gonna make you go away!"

He really wasn't good at this threat stuff, was he?

He lowered his horn to try to gouge Ava, effectively tearing the web as he passed through. Peter took exactly one second to note that he didn't care about that web at all. Then he released the tension in his slingshot and sent himself flying at Rhino. His feet connected solidly with the large gray head. It did hurt, but the momentum knocked Rhino right off his feet. Peter jumped off and landed nimbly nearby. He shot a few globs of webbing at Rhino's arms to keep him in place.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Danny quoted.

"Exactly!" Peter gave him two thumbs up. "That one never gets old."

"Says you," Ava muttered before she turned her attention to the big gray beast. "Okay, Rhino, we're going to call in some Shield agents to take you to a nice holding cell up in the Helicarrier. Do you want to tell us why you went after a poor little football jockey?"

Rhino gave a huge snort which felt like a gust of wind. Peter felt something wet mixed with the wind. "Gross! Rhino snot!"

"Ha ha!" Nova laughed. "You got Rhino cooties!"

"You deserve it!" Rhino rumbled. "People keep trying to stop me! First Parker, and now you dorks! I just want a little revenge!"

That completely distracted Peter from his booger problems. He exchanged a glance with Luke.

Taking advantage of their shock, Rhino ripped away the web covering one arm. He flung that hand out, catching most of the team. Peter tried to duck, but was still caught on the shoulder by the sheer size of Rhino's hands. He, Danny, and Sam were thrown into a nearby wall. Ava and Luke tried to hold Rhino down, but he simply stood with them dangling from his arms. They let go before he could fling them around too, and Rhino continued on his way.

"Ow," Peter muttered as he peeled himself away from the bricks. His back cracked as he arched it back. "Okay, let's—let's take a moment to regroup."

"And to regain our breaths," Danny added.

"Yeah, that too. Power Man, you want to explain the little epiphany you and I just had?"

Luke nodded. "Right, there's a chance that Rhino might be Alex."

The others gave him blank stares. "Who?"

"He's a kid in some of our classes. None of us know him, but Flash seems to have been picking on him for a while. Spidey and I caught him in the act this morning. Alex mentioned something then about us stopping him from getting payback, but I didn't think he meant anything this big."

"Could he be a mutant?" Sam asked. He wasn't as winded from his collision with the wall thanks to whatever space mumbo jumbo his helmet granted him.

"Mutants can't usually transform at will though," Ava pointed out. "At least no X-Men style mutants."

"Vulture could."

"He's the only one we've ever seen. Besides, if he was a mutant like that, why did he never change before?"

"That makes sense," Luke added. "I should probably also mention that Alex had a much better vocabulary this morning before he turned into a rhino. Whatever happened to him is affecting his brain."

Those words reminded Peter of something. Something bad. "You may be onto something. Dr. Connors has this theory that—um—Well, in a nutshell, any big transformation like this that's caused unnaturally will starve the brain, impairing cognitive functions."

Sam's frown was visible under his helmet. "Wait, can you repeat that with a little more English?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "Rhino can't think straight, just like how the Lizard wasn't nearly as smart as Dr. Connors."

This time there were understanding nods from everyone.

"So, also like Lizard, Rhino may get more aggressive the longer he's on the loose," Ava guessed.

"Possibly. He'll at least cause plenty of damage trying to go after Flash." Peter glanced at the diminishing form of Rhino in the distance. "We need to catch up now. Or better yet, let's get ahead. Flash said he was going home. Does anyone know where that is?"

Nobody knew where that was.

They requested the information from Shield, and were quite surprised.

"Huh," Peter intoned. "Okay, so . . . It's a scrapyard. Maybe it won't be so bad to have the big fight there where there's no civilians. Nova, go pick Flash up just in case the cab can't outpace Rhino. The rest of us will go ahead to Flash's house.

Flash's house was barely a house.

It looked like a small cabin in the middle of a metal canyon.

There was a part of Peter that knew that bullies often came from tough backgrounds. That Flash might have had an unhappy childhood or something. But never had Peter known that Flash lived in a literal dump.

Okay, technically it was a gas station with a mechanic shop plus a scrap metal business on the side. But there were old rusted cars and other car parts piled all around. And the place was completely barren of any greenery. And the house looked to be in need of repairs.

Some strange emotions were bubbling up within Peter, and he wished he could take the time to sort them out, but Nova was on his way with Flash, which meant that Rhino was only a few minutes away.

"It's . . . I . . ." Ava began quietly as the four of them stood there. She must have been feeling the same way. "We can't let Flash get hurt in his home."

"Agreed." Peter turned to watch the skies. There was a little blue light that was Nova. "So we know that webs don't work near his horn and Rhino moves fast. Any ideas on how we're going to stop him?"

"We also know we do not want to hurt Rhino," Danny said. "Is there any other way that your silk could work?"

Peter considered that. "Maybe. It would be great if we could get him to stay still long enough to wrap him up. Do you think taser webs will stop him?"

"Or one of us could hold him back," Luke suggested. "He's exactly like a speeding train, and I've stopped those before."

"Not one with a huge horn right up front," Ava pointed out.

Peter nodded. "I'll try taser webs first. If that doesn't work, then we can use our resident brick wall."

Luke crossed his arms. "I'll accept being called a tank, but I draw the line at brick wall."

"Fair enough. Let's get into position."

The bright light in the distance grew brighter and bigger, and it was accompanied by much screaming. Nova zoomed in, coming to an abrupt stop at the front door of the house. Flash was clinging to him and still screaming even though they weren't moving anymore. Sam nearly had to shake him off so he'd go inside.

"All righty," Sam said. "Rhino should be here in three. . . two . . . one . . ."

Rhino entered through the wooden fence that lined the perimeter, sending splinters everywhere. "Where'd ya go, firefly? Rhino's getting angry!"

"Oh, so you're only starting to get angry now?" Nova asked sarcastically.

Snorting harshly, Rhino surged towards him.

Getting ready to aim, Peter sighed. He felt bad that Alex was going through this, essentially losing his mind in exchange for some power. This raging rhino was a far cry from the articulate kid who'd insulted him that morning. Peter had to wonder if this was how Wolverine had felt in the Savage Lands. Peter couldn't remember speaking while he was . . . extra spidery. Wolverine usually complained that he talked too much, so it must have been strange to see a silent (or snarling) Spider-Man.

Well, they could help Alex too. That's what Shield was for. They could fix this.

Peter shot the taser web. The air crackled as electricity ran down the line. Rhino stopped abruptly, muscles bulging and tensing. He reached up with shaky hands and snapped the line.

"Oh, come on!" Peter pouted. "I spent all weekend practicing these techniques and not a single one is working today!"

"Stop hurting Rhino!" Rhino yelled. "No one hurts Rhino anymore!" He changed direction to come at Spider-Man instead. Pouting beneath his mask, Peter dove and slid underneath the rampaging giant. Rhino tried to skid to a stop, but crashed into a pile of tires anyway.

"Time for plan B, then," Luke said, clapping his hands together. "Hey, big gray and ugly! Looks like you got yourself a nose ring!"

Peter looked back and snickered at the sight. One of the tires was looped around Rhino's horn. Rhino shook his head roughly until he flung it off, sending it flying. Peter gasped and shot a web line at it when he noticed its trajectory. It stopped just short of one of the windows of the Thompson abode. Inside the house, Flash could be heard screaming again.

"Flash!" Rhino bellowed. Now that he was reminded of his real target, he pointed his horn straight at the house.

The team reacted quickly. Sam, Danny, and Ava, converged on Rhino, scratching, punching, and shooting at him. Luke, left ignored, joined them. It slowed Rhino down a little, giving Peter enough time to run for the house.

Team Rule #1: Civilian safety is prioritized over any plan (even when that civilian is Flash).

He burst through the front door. Peter looked at Flash first to make sure he wasn't hurt. But once he could see that Flash was fine, his gaze wandered to the rest of the room.

It was almost bare. A beat-up old sofa was against one wall, a tiny TV sat opposite it, and a small kitchenette area seemed to be on the third wall. A few doors probably led to bedrooms and a bathroom That was it. No pictures, no art, no real sign that this was the home of a lively teenage boy. Nothing.

"Spider-Man!" Flash squeaked, straightening up from his cowardly position on the floor. "I—I'm sorry you had to see my place like this, but this is all my dad and I have. Please, you have to help me!"

For a moment, Peter was speechless. It was so different to see Flash this desperate. "Your house doesn't matter as much as your safety, but we'll do what we can. It's definitely not safe here. I need to take you somewhere high and out of the way, but you'll need to be quiet so Nosey out there doesn't chase you again."

Flash nodded vigorously. "Yes sir!"

"I said quiet!"

This time Flash nodded silently.

"Heads up!" Ava's voice came from Peter's communicator. "Rhino's pushing past us. You need to get him out of there now!"

Without warning, Peter scooped Flash up in a fireman's hold again. Flash made a small noise of protest, but seemed to have committed to his silence at last. "Back door?" Peter asked, and Flash pointed. Peter rammed through it. He felt bad about breaking the lock, but they couldn't wait nor could they go out the front. Rhino was proving to be way harder to stop than they originally thought. The only way forward would be to get Flash out of the way so they could make Rhino focus only on the team. Then they could keep him contained until they actually came up with a way to stop him.

Flash almost screamed when Peter started swinging away, especially when they gained height. He stuffed his fist in his mouth to muffle any involuntary sounds he made. That almost amused Peter. They landed on a nearby rooftop, one tall enough that Rhino wouldn't be able to see the top.

Stumbling away on shaky legs, Flash took his fist out. "Swinging with you is so awesome!" he squealed. "Thanks, Spidey!"

"Shh! Just stay here and stay quiet! Once we handle Rhino, I'll come—" Peter cut himself off when he heard a loud scream from below. It sounded like Luke, and Luke never screamed in pain like that. It made Peter's hair stand on end. "Um—yeah—wait here. A Shield agent will be with you shortly."

Without waiting for Flash's confused reply, he swung back to the scrapyard as fast as humanly possible. Or as fast as inhumanly possible. Whatever. That didn't matter right now. A teammate was hurt.

"Spidey, we could use your help," Sam said through the comm, sounding anxious.

"Already on my way. Where do you need me?"

"South side, behind the cars. Power Man's been mutilated."

"WHAT?!"

"I'm not mutilated," Luke's voice came through, sounding strained. "I just got a little cut."

Peter almost choked on his sigh of relief. "Cut? You never get cut! You've got impenetrable skin!"

"It's nearly impenetrable. I guess that 'nearly' is more important than we—aaahh!" Luke hissed in pain. It wasn't Peter's or Ava's style of hissing, but hissing nonetheless. "I think I might need one of your web tourniquets."

"Almost there," Peter promised. He zipped past Rhino, who was smashing through all the junk piled around, and rolled into a quick stop. Sitting against a rusted car door, Luke was clutching his leg and—"Oh god." Peter winced in sympathy. "That is so not a little cut."

"Okay, so maybe it isn't," Luke admitted. "I haven't exactly looked at it too well yet." One of his eyebrows quirked up in a way that suggested he was peeking open one eye behind his sunglasses. He gasped, turning his head away. "Sweet Christmas! It looks as bad as it feels!"

It occurred to Peter that Luke had likely not received any sort of cuts in years, much less one this bad. "You'll be alright. The rest of us have survived stuff worse than this, so you're going to live." He went to get a closer look. In order to get close enough, he had to kneel in the pool of blood, which was still warm as it soaked into his suit. "This is the part where you need to let go of your leg so I can help."

Nodding, Luke pulled his hands away from his wound. They were shaking slightly. Underneath, the jagged gash was revealed to run almost the full length of his shin. Peter set to work wrapping a piece of webbing around Luke's upper thigh.

"This is going to hurt a little," he warned as he pulled it tight. Luke grunted, then exhaled slowly through his clenched teeth.

"That hurt more than a little."

Peter shrugged apologetically before starting on the silk bandage. "You get used to it."

"I'm not supposed to get used to it! I'm supposed to be the toughest one here! Your tank!"

"We don't have the same roles all the time. Look at me, I'm stuck as your nurse right now because all of my attacks were completely useless."

"But I've never been the damsel in distress before." Luke sighed. "I don't like this. All this blood—" He stopped abruptly, seeming to gag.

Peter's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you afraid of the sight of blood?"

"No! I see you bleeding way too often."

"Okay, correction, are you afraid of the sight of your own blood?"

Luke only swallowed thickly.

"Big, strong Power Man is afraid of his own blood?" Peter teased softly in an attempt to ease the atmosphere.

"It's just a little different, you know? When you're aware that it's coming from under your own skin. Skin that's not supposed to be open like this," Luke added resentfully.

That sounded very familiar. Peter smiled understandingly beneath his mask. "I get it. It is different when stuff starts coming out of you that you normally don't see."

Luke looked at him. "Oh. I'm sorry, Spidey. I didn't realize—"

"It's fine. I just . . . wanted you to know I understand."

"Does it still feel this strange?"

"Not really. For one, my spinnerets don't hurt. They just feel . . . like nothing I had ever felt before." Peter shrugged. "I'm getting used to it though, just like how I got used to seeing my blood every few days."

Luke made a disgusted face. "How do you live with your blood like that?"

Peter raised an eyebrow. "You are a spoiled superhero, you know that?"

That garnered a chuckle from Luke.

"Well, there you go. One web bandage that should hold until—" Peter inhaled sharply when his spider sense rang out. He grabbed Luke and pulled him out of the way despite his shout of protest. A car came crashing down from the top of the pile.

"Sweet angels of Christmas!" Luke cursed. "That hurts so much! I think I would have preferred to be hit by the car."

"SPIDER-MAN!" Rhino yelled furiously from the middle of the yard where he was surrounded by the others. "BUMBLEBEE!" He seemed to be looking at Power Man.

"I think he means you," Peter muttered, vaguely amused. "Because of the yellow and black color theme you've got going on."

"I look nothing like a bumblebee," Luke grumbled.

"Rhino's gonna squish you both!"

"You've got the attention span of a toddler!" Ava growled at Rhino. "Focus on the people who are attacking you right now!" She scratched at his leg repeatedly, and it finally seemed to make Rhino flinch and lash out, kicking White Tiger away. Sam flew over to catch her. With only Iron Fist attempting to hold him back, Rhino was free to move.

"Maybe we should move now," Peter whispered as he picked up Luke and ran. The ideal thing would have been to get him to the same roof as Flash so they could be taken up to the Helicarrier together, but they couldn't do that while Rhino was watching or else that entire piece of the plan would fall apart. And judging from the way the ground was shaking, Rhino was very close behind.

Luke moaned. "It feels like my leg is going to fall off!"

"You'll be fine, trust me."

Trying to stay close to the scrapyard, Peter quickly turned so they didn't go past the fence. The sharp turn bought them a little extra time as Rhino skidded over the ground in a clumsy attempt to match their route. Peter spotted a pile of large pipes, the huge type that a full-grown person could easily fit into if they only bent over a bit. The openings also seemed to be roughly the size of Rhino's head and horn too. Was it too much to hope that he might get stuck if he tried to follow them in? Probably, but it was still worth a shot.

He dove into pipe, sliding until he was at least halfway in. He did his best to do it smoothly, but Luke's leg scraped the walls, slightly tearing at the web bandage. Blood began to seep through.

"Sorry!" Peter apologized. "I'll fix that in a sec. Just brace yourself."

Rhino did in fact fall for it, rushing in at full speed head first. The pipe shook and was pushed back straight through the fence. Splintered wood came rushing in on one end. The horn came way too close for comfort on the other end, but nothing touched them.

"No fair!" Rhino rumbled. "Rhino's gonna get you!"

"You may have a horn, but I see no point to your grudge against us," Peter quipped as he helped Luke push the wood away. He did not want to be this close to that horn for any longer than he had to be.

"What do you mean?"

Peter bit back a laugh. "See, I could make another joke about you missing the point when it's right under your nose, but . . ."

"There's a limit to puns, man," Luke said distractedly. "Even for you."

Rhino gave a great big snort, filling the pipe with warm air. Peter nearly gagged. "Not rhino boogers again! You're seriously grossing me out now. I'm never wearing this suit again!"

Suddenly, the pipe was lifted into the air as Rhino seemed to stand. Peter's spider sense was going crazy in his head. He held onto Luke and braced his legs against the walls of the pipe, sticking on as hard as he could.

Rhino swung his head back and forth, whipping the pipe from side to side. Had Peter been able to hold himself in place with all four limbs, he probably would have made it unscathed. But Power Man was his priority and it wasn't quite as easy to keep them both from banging into the walls and each other. On top of that, all the movement was scraping Rhino's horn against the walls, making screeching sounds worse than nails scratching down a chalkboard. It echoed around and made Peter's ears ring. He was terribly tempted to let Luke go in favor of covering his ears, but he stopped himself. Rhino would stop shaking his head any second now. Any second . . .

It felt like the pipe was slammed back into the ground at full force before it was pushed against something hard. Everything went still. Peter allowed himself a moment to curl up and massage his head. The sound was still ringing in his ears. He couldn't hear anything else. It was always disconcerting when this happened after explosions and other loud events. He didn't like losing one of his senses like this, even if it was only temporary. It made him feel vulnerable.

Super senses were not as wonderful as some people thought.

Peter opened his eyes when he realized he had closed them. He couldn't afford to ignore his remaining senses. Next to him, Luke was lying on his back, breathing shallowly. His bandage was torn further and the gash was bleeding freely again. Behind him, a brick wall blocked the back way out. Rhino's head was still jammed into the other end, eyes shut. His deep rank breath filled the tube. Combined with how they were literally just shaken, Peter felt nausea threaten to bring his lunch back up. He swallowed thickly.

"Power Man?" he whispered even though he couldn't hear himself. "Can you hear me?"

Luke's head shifted. Maybe he groaned. His lips moved and Peter read them. He was either saying that his bread needed honey, or his head felt funny. Peter should have thought about his lack of hearing before he started asking questions.

"Your head feels funny?" he repeated just to be sure. Luke nodded. "Mine too, but that should pass soon. I'm going to fix the bandage now. Stay still."

Peter retightened the tourniquet and wrapped a second bandage over the remains of the first, repeatedly glancing back at Rhino the whole time. He couldn't hear if the big guy was stirring, so he had to see him for himself. After a moment, Luke tapped at his communicator, saying something else. Peter couldn't read his lips this time, but he understood the general concept.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear anything. If the team's talking, you're going to have to respond."

Luke gave him a look that seemed to reprimand him for not saying anything before. Peter only shrugged. It was far from the first time he didn't say something about an injury. And this wasn't even a real injury. In fact, the ringing was already decreasing, allowing real sounds to reach his brain again. A minute later, he managed to catch the tail end of Luke's conversation with the rest of the team.

". . . won't? Just get us out of here!"

"Listen," Ava's voice replied tersely. "Rhino is now stuck with two people directly in front of his face to finally maintain his attention, and there's a bunch of metal around. We're going to wrap it around him while you two either keep him unconscious or preoccupied."

"Fine," Luke huffed. "Just hurry up."

"We plan to."

Sighing, Luke pushed himself up into a better sitting position. "I used to like rhinos. I don't think I do anymore," he muttered.

"I don't think regular rhinos are quite as dangerous," Peter defended. Luke glanced at him.

"You can hear again?"

"It always comes back within a few minutes. The one sense I wish would go away right now is my sense of smell."

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind that either. I'd rather see Rhino rather than smell him."

Peter realized that the interior of the pipe was probably much darker than it seemed to his eyes. "Right, although he's not all that great of a sight either."

The pipe rocked slightly. Rhino smacked his lips together. "Who's talking 'bout Rhino?"

"Nobody!" Peter lied. "I was just thinking how big and brawny you are."

The pipe felt like it was beginning to lift into the air again. Peter stiffened. He did not want to take another ride on the Rhino Shake-o-rama. Thankfully, they didn't seem to get far. Rhino grunted and pulled, but he couldn't move it any further.

"Keep Rhino distracted," Ava instructed from the communicator. "He's starting to move, and I don't need to tell either of you how hard it is to bend steel bars around a wriggly rhino."

"Oh, do enlighten us," Peter replied with a smirk, but Ava didn't even respond.

Hmph, steel bars. As much as Peter wanted that to work, he couldn't help but feel miffed that such mundane things could outdo his silk. Normally it was the other way around, but he supposed the fact that Rhino was no longer running was helping. One of Peter's webs could technically support a jet, but it would be difficult to stop one in midflight. Especially if the jet had a giant blade on its nose.

"What're puny people doing?" Rhino rumbled. He tried to pull his head out, but he only succeeded in piercing his horn in the top of the pipe.

"Forget about them," Luke said loudly. "I've got a bone to pick with you now. You're the first person who's ever cut me."

Rhino snorted. "Wasn't hard."

Luke glared at him. "It's supposed to be hard! Don't you know who I am? I'm Power Man! I'm supposed to be the toughest one on the team."

"Nobody's tougher than Rhino!"

"I'm tougher than you!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

Peter watched the exchange bemusedly. Usually, he was the one leading the distraction, but he supposed that Luke had earned this one. It was fun to watch anyway.

At least until Rhino decided to take the argument beyond words.

He changed tactics. Metal squealed as Rhino pushed himself deeper into the pipe, his horn gouging a ragged line through the material. Behind them, the pipe scraped against the brick wall, breaking away dust and pieces of mortar. The wall didn't give way though, leaving them with less and less room.

Rhino was looking very furious now. It would have been harder to believe that this was a skinny kid named Alex had he not given Peter some pretty harsh glares that morning.

"Power Man," Peter said more calmly than he felt. "You're not supposed to get them this riled up."

"Spidey, have you seen how angry you make people?" Power looked and sounded extremely calm.

"Okay, well—" Peter pushed himself against the wall and broken wood as the giant head came closer. His spider sense was going wild with Rhino so close. "At least when I get people angry, I'm not stuck in a pipe with them."

"Touché."

"Stop talking! Rhino gonna squish!" He pushed forward again.

Rhino was coming closer. This whole thing was reminding Peter very forcibly of his encounter with Kraven. He started seeing flashes of Kraven's face, and the syringe, and then a close-up of his furs. The warmth of flesh on his tongue—

Oh, oh this wasn't good. Peter could feel pressure in the roof of his mouth. A discomfort that made him feel like biting something to relieve it. And a part of him felt like Rhino was the best thing to—

No. He wasn't doing that. Not this time. Not when his team was here to help. Peter tapped his communicator. "Hey, can you guys get us out now? Whatever you're doing isn't working."

"It's totally working!" Sam replied. "We've got his legs bound and we're working on his arms."

"That's not stopping him from coming at us!"

"We nearly have him," Danny said. "Give us only a few more seconds and there will be no more danger."

Luke put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, Spidey," he said. "He's not that close."

Peter took a second to reassess the scene. Maybe he was overreacting. The flashbacks certainly weren't helping him calm down. Rhino gained another inch, and Peter couldn't help hissing at him. Unlike Kraven, Rhino didn't seem to care.

Beside him, Luke chuckled. "Thanks for looking out for me, man. I appreciate it."

Peter blushed. He felt the need to explain himself. "Sorry, my spider sense is going a little haywire with that giant horn so close. It's kind of scary. I mean, it cut you! Mr. I-never-get-cut!"

"Could we not talk about that?"

"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"S—okay."

The pipe shifted. Peter tensed further until he realized that it was being pulled away from the wall. He quickly helped Luke out before squeezing through the gap himself. Rhino complained about them leaving, but that was easy to ignore. Peter blinked in the sunlight a few times before his lenses darkened accordingly. When he could see clearly, he noticed that Rhino was tied up in various lengths of metal. He took a deep breath before speaking. "Ooh, good job, everyone. Way to use your environment."

"Way to prevent Power Man from bleeding out," Ava complimented back. "How is it?"

"It hurts. A lot," Luke admitted. "I don't ever want to be cut again."

"We'll protect you, big guy." Sam clapped him on the back. "I can fly you up to the Med Bay now."

Peter handed Luke off, feeling relieved to know that everyone was safe now. It was almost hard to believe after his spider sense had gone wild in the pipe, but looking around now, he couldn't find anything amiss. He checked on Rhino's restraints just to be sure. They were secure, holding even against his wriggling.

So why did he still feel that pressure in the roof of his mouth? Maybe it was because he was still seeing flashes of Kraven's face. He needed something to distract him.

"Hey, Spidey," Ava said. "Don't you need to get Flash down from that roof?"

That was an excellent distraction. No one was more distracting than Flash.

Fun facts:

- Rhinos have terrible eyesight, which is why they tend to charge whatever comes too close. It's hard for them to tell if it's a threat or not.

- High-pitched sounds are more damaging to the ear than low-pitched sounds and can tire out the inner ear causing temporary hearing loss. Peter and Ava can hear higher pitches than a normal human, so they may be more susceptible to this.