Time seems to have passed, and they both lie motionless on the floor of the truck shakes to a stop, waking the both of them up.
"Ugh. Where the hell are we?"Seren groaned out.
"I don't know." Peter groaned as well sitting up.
"You appear to have a mild concussion." Synergy stated.
With a headache, Seren stands up with a hand to his head.
"Hey, so where am we right now?"
They both look around but cannot figure out where they are.
"I'm unsure. The container walls are hindering my sensors."
"Wait a minute. They must have hijacked the truck and taken us both to their evil lair. Okay, suit lady. We're gonna have to fight our way out of this one."
Seren prepares himself to burst through the truck's metal doors holding a telekinetically charged energy ball in his hand.
"Three, two, one!"
Seren throws the energy ball at the trailer doors exploding them open. They walk out to find the both of them in a huge warehouse full of containers. They both are looking around, on guard.
"What is this place? Suit lady, where am I?"
"Synergy please follow up on that question."
"Mr. Gwynn you're in the most secure facility on the Eastern Seaboard. The Damage Control Deep Storage Vault."
"No. Seriously?"
Shocked, Seren puts both hands to his head. On the wall before him, "DODC-V05" is written in big black letters. Time has passed. Peter is clinging to the horizontal crack of the massive doors as he tries wedging them open. Seren tries budging them with his telekinesis. He's so useless in this situation. Whatever made that door is completely power proof. Unless, whatever he did on the top of the truck he could do again.
"Peter, did you see me on the top of that truck? That man fully went to attack me, but he missed. As if I wasn't even there to begin with."
"What are you getting on?"
"Maybe I can do it again."
"You sure? It seems like you just developed the power. I honestly wouldn't risk it."
"We'll see." Seren gets up from where he was sitting and starts running to the shutters. He closes his eyes and tries to run straight through it.
"OW."Only to crash right into it with his face pressed right into the doors. He slides right down into a sitting position. Peter ran over to help him up.
"That was the dumbest thing you ever did."
"Don't remind meeee." Seren groaned out rubbing his nose.
"The door will most likely remain closed until morning." Synergy said.
Seren kicks at the bottom of the doors.
"Morning?" he whined out.
Later. The both of them are lying on a hammock made out of Peter's webs.
"Hey, suit lady, I kind of feel bad calling you "suit lady," you know? I think I should probably give you a name... like Liz. No, no, no. God, that's... that's weird."
"Geez Peter you sure do got it bad." Seren floats down to lay on a makeshift bed of their clothes.
With one hand, Peter swings on a rope that is also made out of his webs, and lets go, dropping to the floor and lying down next to Seren.
"What about Karen?"
"Peter can we actually talk to each other we're both trapped."
"Nah." Seren pouted as Peter laughed.
Peter reads a book hanging upside down. His web is held between his feet and suspending him from the ceiling.
"Hey, Karen, what else can this suit do?"
Wings expand from under his arms. Peter gasps in surprise.
"What?"
Standing in front of an empty wall, Peter is now wearing his yellow Midtown high school blazer over his suit. The suit is flashing a laser spider man emblem on the wall. Peter is examining the options for his web.
"Maybe we should run that refresher course."
"Ricochet web."
Peter shoots a ricochet web on the wall and it immediately bounces back. He ducks to dodge the ball-shaped bundle of web.
"Whoa! Cool."
"Is it?" Seren huffed covered in webs.
Later. Peter is lying face up on one of the trailers.
" Should I tell Liz that I'm Spider-Man?"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"For Liz? Yea it is a good idea. She's... heh. She's the best. She's awesome. She, uh, she's just a girl who actually shows interest in me at all. And uh... Yeah, I just... I really want to tell her, but it's kind of weird, you know? "Hey, I'm... I'm Spider-Man."
"What's weird about that?"
"What if she's expecting someone like Tony Stark? I mean, imagine how disappointed she'd be when she sees me."
"Well, if I were her, I wouldn't be disappointed at all. If anything I would be proud to know Spider-Man."
"Thanks, Ren. It's really nice to have somebody to talk to. Hey, how long we were here anyways?"Seren looked at his watch.
"Thirty-seven minutes."
"What? Thirty-seven minutes?"
Peter sits up, unable to control the frustration.
"That's insane. I cannot take this anymore. We gotta... We gotta get out of here."
Peter flips off a container and walks into it. He sighs and takes off his blazers and his hoodie.
"There's got to be something in here I can use."
He opens Vulture's duffel bag.
"Okay, let's see."
Peter inspects a wheel-shaped metal piece then throws it away. Seren joins in searching for whatever Peter needs. He's also feeling the pressure to get out the place.
"Nope."
He pulls out an Ultron head.
"That's awesome. The Ultron head makes a clanging sound as it is discarded on the floor."
Seren holds a purple glowing object.
"Ah, hey, it's like the glowy thing." he poined out.
"That glowy thing is an explosive Chitauri energy core." Synergy said out loud to the both of them.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! You mean, we've been carrying around a bomb?"
"It would require radiation to transform it into an explosive state."
Peter finds his phone and tries to call Ned but can't get any reception.
"No, no, no, no, no."
Seren starts flying to the warehouse doors. Clinging onto the doors, he starts banging and shouting, hoping someone would hear him.
"Hey! Please! Please, somebody, let me out! Hey! Look at that! Synergy, you have to help me override that time lock."
Seren floats upside down from the ceiling next to the time lock close to the doors. He has opened the lock panel with his claws and is now putting in numbers. In his hands are a notepad and a pen.
"Okay Synergy. Lower the voltage and run it."
"Trial unsuccessful."
"Okay, we're just gonna have to try every single damn sequence."
Peter crosses out the wrong sequence on his notepad right next to Seren.
The sun is rising over the Washington D.C. At the hotel. Ned waits in his room. Someone knocks on the door.
"Ned, Peter, we're gonna be late. Come on, let's go."
"Okay, hold on, hold on."
Ned grabs the energy core.
The both of them are still trying to override the lock. They yawn, then presses some buttons.
"Initiating trial 247."
The massive warehouse doors groan as they open.
"It worked! It works!"
Peter swings out on his webs through the opening doors with Seren flying right behind him. Peter crawls on the ceiling outside, then drops on the trailer of a departing truck. Seren lands down on the same trailer as him. He lies down as the truck passes an armed guard.
The students are entering the Decathlon venue.
"Please be sure all cell phones are turned off."
Ned hand his phone in to the security.
"Thank you."
Peter is standing on the back of a trailer truck. A ringing tone is heard in the background.
"Karen, you have to get me to Decathlon as fast as possible."
"Synergy you do the same."
"Right away Mr. Gwynn. what is the location?"
"Right across the street from the Washington Monument."
We see Peter holding his phone to his ear.
"Hey, it's Ned. Leave a message."
"Ned, call me back! The glowy thing is a bomb!
At the Decathlon, the students are scribbling. We pan down to see the purple energy core glowing in Ned's pocket.
"There's a vehicle approaching on your right."
Seren grunts and launches on top of the cargo.
Back at the decathalon.
"We have now entered sudden death."
The students prepare themselves, trying to be calm and placing their hands on their buzzers. Flash takes a deep breath, clearly nervous.
Cutting back the boys. Seren and Peter are launching themselves over each truck.
"The next correct answer wins the championship."
MJ hits the answer bell with a bored, impassive look.
"Midtown Tech?" The moderator asked.
"Zero." She answered.
"That is correct. Midtown takes the championship!"
Ned hugs Michelle and she smiles. More Midtown students pile in for a group hug.
The Midtown High students are walking toward the Washington Monument.
"We won!"
"You guys, I am so proud of you."
"Told you we didn't need Peter." Flash sauntered in the front of the group.
"Flash, you didn't answer a single question." Ned deadpanned.
Michelle is standing alone with a book.
"Taking it all in, Michelle?" Mr. Harrington asked.
"Oh, yeah, I just... um, I don't really want to celebrate something that was built by slaves."
"Oh, I'm sure the Washington Monument wasn't built by-."
Mr. Harrington looks up at the monument. A park ranger wobbles his hand as a confirmation to Michelle's words. Mr. Harrington purses his lips and walks away.
"Okay. Enjoy your book."
"Thanks."
Peter swings on top of a bus. Peter and Ned finally reach each other on the phone.
"Oh, Ned, you're alive!"
Ned is at the Washington Monument, about to get a security check.
"Peter, are you okay?"
"Ned, Ned, where's the glowy thing, the glowy thing?"
"Don't worry, it's safe. It's in my backpack."
Ned puts his backpack down on the conveyor belt for an X-ray security scan.
"No, Ned, listen! No, no, Ned, the glowy thing is dangerous."
"You missed the Decathlon. I covered for you."
"Ned, listen to me!"
"Gimme the phone." Seren grabbed it right out of Peter's hands.
"Listen here Ned if you don't listen to us I'll personally send you to your grave. You hear me!"
"Uhm…" Liz's voice answered. Seren's mouth closed. Peter's face looked like he swallowed a frog. He grabbed the phone quickly from him.
"Oh, hey, Liz."
Peter jumps from the bus, tumbles on his back, and starts running.
"Please put Ned back on the phone."
"You should tell her how you feel." Seren tells him.
Peter tries to put a word in edgewise but Liz ignores him and talks on.
"You freak! You are so lucky we won. You know, I want to be mad, but I'm more worried. Like, what is going on with you?"
Now at the Lincoln Memorial, Peter is running towards the Washington Monument.
"Liz, I have to talk to Ned. It's really important!"
"Miss, all items on the belt, please."
"Liz, there's something in Ned's backpack! It's really dangerous. Don't let it go through an X-ray."
Not hanging up, Liz puts Ned's phone through the X-ray machine along with Ned's backpack. Ned walks through the scanner, oblivious, and moves to collect his backpack. The X-ray scanner screen buzzes.
"Liz? Liz! Damn it."
Peter keeps running, and the Washington Monument comes into view as he gets closer.
Ned puts on his bag. The students enter an elevator.
"Hey, Mr. Harrington, can I be the one to tell Peter he's expelled?"
Outside the Washington Monument, Peter webs both of their backpacks to a tree.
The elevator is steadily climbing upwards. The core in Ned's backpack begins to glow.
"The Washington Monument is 555 feet, 5 and 1/8 inches tall. Notice how the marble and granite are cut around the stone."The tour guide droned on.
The energy core erupts with light, breaking glass, and the tip of the monument cracks.
Seren and Peter arrive at the base of the monument.
"Did you hear that?"
"No, no, no, no, no, no. Synergy, what's going on up there?"
"The Chitauri core has detonated and caused severe structural damage to the elevator."
The cat glasses provide Seren a view inside the monument, and it is shown that several people are gathered inside the elevator.
"Oh, god." Seren said.
"My friends are up there!" MJ pointed out.
"What? Uh... Don't worry, ma'am. Everything's gonna be okay. Excuse me, excuse me. Oh, my god, that's tall."Peter's skin blanched.
Peter runs through the crowd, leaps onto the side of the monument, and crawls up.
On the elevator, Ned drops his backpack. The small space is filled with smoke.
"Oh, my god. Look at the ceiling."
A glowing, red crack cuts across the elevator ceiling.
"Just stay calm, everyone."
"Oh, we are all going to die here." Abe panicked looking back and forth.
Michelle peers up at Peter. He's climbing on the monument, and has gotten so high that he's merely a dot seen from below.
"Estimating 10 minutes before catastrophic failure."
Inside the elevator:
"We're freakin' screwed."
"Okay guys, I know that was scary, but our safety systems are working."
Seren is now panting.
"The safety systems are completely failing."
The tour guide drones on in order to calm the students.
"We're very safe in here."
Outside the Monument:
"The occupants are in imminent mortal danger."
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Seren said while increasing his speed surpassing Peter on the way up.
Peter pulls himself up with double strands of web.
Park rangers open the doors to the elevator shaft. The tour guide opens a hatch in the ceiling of the car and looks out. Peter continues climbing.
Cindy is pulled out of the elevator.
"Let's go. Give me your hand."
"You now have 125 seconds until catastrophic failure."
Seren's hands clench a little.
"What? Why?"
"Unexpected motion has caused the deterioration to escalate."
The glasses show the elevator. The park rangers rescuing the students are making the elevator move.
"Tell me. How do we get in there?"
"Activating reconnaissance drone."
The spike on Seren's goggles detaches, and the cat-shaped robot flies up, over the monument.
"Really, has that been there the whole time? That's awesome."
"Locating optimal entry point."
The small drone finds a window.
"Proceed to southwest window."
"Peter, I'm on my way. Head towards the southwest window."
Peter moves around the monument and continues climbing. Down below, people have started to gather to see what's happening.
Inside, Abe peers down the long elevator shaft.
Peter reaches the top of the monument. Pausing, he turns onto his back and clings to the cracked stone.
"Ah!" Peter screamed as Seren flew back around after inspecting the integrity of the monument.
Cautiously, Peter peers over the edge to the ground far below.
"Okay. Oh, my god. Okay."
He then takes panicky breaths and sticks to the wall.
"What's wrong? We're here at the southwest window. Why are you hesitating?"
"It's fine. It's just, I've just never been this high before."
"Peter now is not the time to panic we gotta save them. Think of Ned and Liz.
Peter tries to shoo away the seagulls perched on the windowsill. Seren's voice is calm and kind as he informs Peter.
"You have also not reinstalled your parachute, so a fall from this height would kill you if I wasn't here."
Peter moves on top of the windowsill and the seagulls fly away.
"Perfect. Oh, my god."
Peter kicks the window.
"Why is it not breaking?"
"It's a four-inch ballistic glass. I'll get it."
Peter is just clinging onto the side of the monument as Seren is holding out his hands. Slowly he begins to clench them together slowly breaking the glass so Peter isn't injured at all.
Police helicopters approach, guns ready. Speakers boom as a police officer speaks out.
"This is D.C. Metro police. Identify yourself."
"Our friends are in there! Our friends are in there! Stop!"
"Return to the ground immediately."
Inside the elevator:
"Okay, who's next?"
Liz grabs Mr. Harrington's shoulder, preparing to climb up.
"Me, it's my turn!"
Flash shoves Liz to get out first, and doesn't give up the trophy.
"Flash, seriously? What are you doing?"
"Come on."
"Don't worry about the trophy."
Flash climbs through the hatch in the ceiling of the elevator, and the car shakes.
"Ah!"
Through the almost broken window, Peter is watching the students panic. Seren is still focusing on the window.
Peter stands against the window as police helicopters hover around him. An officer is aiming his gun in Peter's direction.
"Stand down! Return to the ground immediately!"
Peter is panting heavily, but he climbs to the top of the monument.
"Return to the ground or we will open fire!"
The police officer follows Peter with the aim of his gun, but Peter disappears from his view to the other side of the monument.
"Ren we need this open now!" Peter screams.
"I don't want to hurt you, Peter."
"Just do it!"
He's having a mental struggle last time he unleashed his powers he ended up killing someone. Seren clenches his fists even harder and the window chips even more so and then finally the window shatters.
"Take my trophy!"
The car shakes again under Flash's feet.
"This is your last chance!"
"Oh, I'm gonna die."
Peter swings in, and the roof of the elevator is ripped off. The elevator starts falling. Peter slides in toward the elevator shaft.
"Ahh!" The whole elevator screamed.
Seren holds the elevator in his telekinetic grip then braces his feet against the doors to the shaft. Liz, Ned and Mr. Harrington are jostled in the elevator as it is stopped.
"I did it! Whoa!"he marveled at. The tourists are so shocked at seeing Psycat that they're all surrounding him Peter is holding onto the elevator as well. The doors break loose, and Peter falls after the plummeting elevator. It catches on a beam and Peter falls in through the ceiling on his back. The impact breaks off a wheel and the car starts to drop again. Peter shoots the web through the hole in the ceiling, stopping the elevator's descent. Hanging upside down with his feet braced against the ceiling of the elevator. Peter grabs on to the strand of web, and tries to make his voice sound different as he helps his friends calm down.
"Ahem. Hey, how you doing? Don't worry about it. I got you."
"Yes! Yes!"
Ned swings his fist in joy and relief, making the whole elevator wobble.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, big guy, quit moving around."
"Sorry, sir. So sorry."
Outside, a fire truck and an ambulance arrive.
"Let's go, let's go!"
With his web attached to the ceiling high above, Peter slowly pulls the elevator up the shaft. They reach an upper floor.
"Okay, okay."
"Mr. Harrington, go. Ned, come on."
"Alright. This is your stop."
"Come on, Liz."
The metal elevator ceiling starts to bend under Peter's feet.
"Go, go, go. Everybody out! Move it, people. Move it, move it!"
"Are you sure it's safe?"
Liz reaches out, but before she can hold Mr. Harrington's outstretched hand, the ceiling snaps.
"Liz!"
Seren grabs Liz as the elevator falls. She is dangling in the air.
"You're okay. You're okay."
Seren lifts his arms up, and she gets lifted up into his arms. He's holding her bridal style while Peter is with the other students calming them down.
"Okay."
His web starts to snap as he helps Liz to safety.
"Oh, my god. Good, good."
"Come on up. Come on, you guys, stay back. Come on in. Come on in."
"So, uh, is everyone okay?"
Liz nods.
"This is your chance, Peter. Kiss her."Seren whispered into his comms.
Liz and Peter hold a look. The web snaps, and Peter drops. The students, the teacher, and the park rangers look down the elevator shaft going after Peter as he falls.
"Thank you." Mr. Harrington yelled down.
Flash peers down the shaft.
"Are you really friends with Peter Parker?"
The students turn and look at Psycat as he gives an awkward grin and launches himself out of the broken window. They all slowly blinked looking at him flying away.
"Date me!" Flash screamed out of the window.
In Vulture's warehouse, Schultz tries out the shocker gauntlet. He can move a whole van with the force of his punch. Mason sits at his work table, clutching his work when the table wobbles.
"I can finish the next order, but without any new materials from that truck..."
"Ugh, damn it. We still have enough to do the Gargan deal though, right?"
"Yeah, but then that's it."
Perching on the table, Vulture strokes his chin.
"Oh, maybe it is time that I built the high-altitude seal."
"Would you shut up about that?"
"It's only one job."
"No."
Schultz stands nearby.
"Eight years, not a word from the Feds, nothing from those Halloween-costume-wearing bozos up there in Stark tower. And then all of a sudden, a fag in pink lined tights and this little bastard in red tights shows up and he thinks he can tear down everything I've built. Really?"
Vulture shrugs.
"I'm gonna find them. I'm gonna kill them..."
"I found them."
On TV, the news shows spider man at the Washington Monument. The headline says, "Cat Man and Sidekick Climbs Washington Monument."
"Psycat and Spider-Man swooped in, heroically saving an Academic Decathlon team from Queens. The identity of the masked hero is still unknown."
Vulture's expression is unreadable and then turns into a sick twisted grin as he studies the screen.
~End~
