"This. Is. So. Cool!" Peter couldn't believe what he was seeing. The lobby of Avengers Tower looked like something out of Star Wars, but it still had that Stark Industries feel to it. Holographic images of Tony Stark played welcoming whoever walked through the door. The floor was gold stained marble, and Peter could see his own reflection. They probably deep wash this floor every night! He saw multiple strangers littered across the entire room: business people, the media, some students, and even some pro heroes.

"Oh my God, Ant Man is literally twenty yards away from me," Peter mumbled, absolutely star struck.

"Jeez dude, you 'aight? You seem really uh…" Pietro trailed off.

"Eager, to say the least," Wanda cut off Pietro. She planted her hand on Peter's shoulder and almost flinched; he was shaking and quivering. To be fair, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, considering how excited he must be. He was excited. Wanda would describe Peter as a young child being brought to his favorite toy store. She knew how important this was to him;it was important to her as well. She wanted to be a hero who could magically whisk away people's problems. If Wanda couldn't do that, then she wanted to help as much as she could.

"I know how excited you are, but keep it down a level or two. We can talk about all this..." Wanda's gaze scanned the giant room, "...really,'' her journey stopped when she saw golden statues of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, the first Ant Man, andThe Wasp respectively. They weren't massive, which allowed for them to be placed near the enterence to the staff and student only elevator. "...cool," her gaze wandered over to see a rather attractive man in a blue uniform with a red flowing cape. "Oh my God, it's Doctor Strange."

"Oh my God, he's right there." Peter pulled out his hero notebook.

"Oh my God, he really is." Pietro's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Oh my God, shut up," a fourth voice spoke up.

The trio turned their heads to see Flash. His face was plastered with a smug grin. Pietro stood forward, pushing Peter and Wanda behind him.

"Oh please, Eugene. You wanna get into Avengers Academy too," Pietro spat back, "You gotta be a little excited, right? Or is that impossible for someone with a cold dead heart?"

"Tch." Flash put his hands in his pockets and walked past Peter and Wanda. Pietro mimicked his movements, effectively acting as a wall between the two and Flash. Flash looked at Peter, "How's the hand, wall-crawler?"

Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes opened back up and he pointed to Flash's arm. "J-just fine. How's that bruise on your arm?"

Flash's eyes widened and lifted his left arm to inspect it. What he found was right under his short sleeve; a dark red bruise. He put his arm down and glared at Peter with a ferocious intensity. "You should get better material, Parker," he growled, "Whatchya lookin' at me so much, huh? Peekin' out from the cracked closet door?"

"Enough." The four turned once again to see their chaperone towering over them. "If you four aren't on your best behavior, believeme, I will personally see that each one of you is punished. Got that?"

"Yes, sir…" all four replied.

Peter watched as the chaperone walked away. Yeah, just ignore the casual bullying, nothing to see here. Peter groaned in annoyance.

Flash sighed and started his walk towards the main group, bumping his shoulder with Pietro as he did. "I'll catch you later, Wall-Crawler."

Peter felt so helpless when he called him that. It just reminded him of that day.

"Jeez Peter, you're so weak!" a young Flash Thompson said while on top of a wall.

Peter glanced towards the ground in embarrassment. He has been trying to climb the wall for the past ten minutes, but he kept falling. "I can't do it, Eugene! I-it's too um… slippery!"

Flash rolled his eyes. "Stop making excuses, Peter! Come on!"

Peter's mind raced as he looked upon the wall again. It towered over him, making him feel so small. He couldn't do this;here's nothing to grab on to. "F-Flash, I'm just gonna go around."

"Ugh Peter, don't be such a sissy."

"That's not a nice word," Peter muttered.

"Come on! Just do it!"

Peter winced at Flash's command. Why couldn't Flash just let him go around? Peter couldn't climb it; it's too steep and slippery. He'll just fall again. He didn't want to make Flash mad, but no matter what, Peter just couldn't climb it.

"Hey! What are you doing you wimp?!"

Peter snapped back into reality and noticed that Flash was gone. W...where did he go? he thought.

A scream deafened Peter's ears. "Flash?!" Peter called out for his friend.

"Stop! Stop please!" the screaming continued, "Daddy! Help me!" the screaming was coming from the other side of the wall.

Peter didn't think when he heard those screams. He vaulted himself onto the wall and started to climb. Digging his fingers into the cracks, pushing up off the ledges under his feet, reaching for the deformities to climb up. "Flash, I'm on my way!" He got to the top and then looked down behind him. He… he did it! He climbed the wall. "I… I did it."

"Hey, Peter-"

"-are you okay?" Wanda's voice suddenly entered the picture, and Peter jolted out of his dreamlike state. No longer was he at a park in the year 2021. Instead,he was back in Avengers Tower in the year 2030.

He turned his head to look at her and nodded. "Yeah… yeah, I'm okay," Peter gave a big smile, "Let's go and enjoy this!"

Wanda flashed a smile back at Peter. "This is gonna be great!"

The tour of the facility was structured into three sections, and each section had been allotted an hour. The first section of the tour was dedicated to the general history of the Avengers, its founders, and the history of heroism.

"Our tour guide is Hawkeye?!" Peter gushed excitedly to Pietro, who returned his excitement.

"I know! Dude, do you think he really has a quirk?" Pietro asked inquisitively.

Peter closed his eyes and put his hand under his chin. He then went into deep thought. "I actually never considered that. If he doesn't then it would definitely be a scandal in the superhero society. However, he claims that he never misses,and his quirk is called 'Dead-Aim' when he was being interviewed by the Daily Bugle top journalist Eddie Brock.e has never released his blood examples to the public. It's not like he's contractually or legally obligated to. The Super-Human Registration Act never forces you to make anything about yourself public, and even then it's highly unlikely-"

"Hey, kid! Yeah, you! The one next to the white-haired boy an' the brunette, would ya mind shuttin' ya trap? I'm tryin' to give a tour here!"

A jolt of surprise ravaged Peter's body as he was interrupted by the very subject of his mumbling. His gaze was met with the intense gaze of Hawkeye himself, who had conveyed annoyance from his posture. "I-I-I," Peter stammered as his body stiffened, and his face turned a shade of crimson red.

"Yeah yeah, that's what I thought, just keep your mouth closed alright?"

"Y-yes, sir…" Peter said with his face hung in embarrassment. He averted his gaze to the right and noticed Wanda gritting her teeth.

"Asshole," Poison dripped from her tongue as she said this.

Peter let out a small chuckle and pulled out his hero notebook. He opened it to Hawkeye's page, and added, 'Rude,' under his personality profile. Definitely not asking him my question…

"Tch," Peter looked up from his notebook to see Flash looking directly at him. He then shook his head, putting his attention to the tour.

The second section of the tour was a showcase of the academy. The group was stuffed into a large elevator and was lifted up to floor 63. From there, the tour continued to the vast array of classrooms. Peter was astonished from the sight. It was the end of lunch for the students, and they were all headed back to their classrooms. "So many students, and they're all gonna be heroes…" Peter murmured.

"They're all so well dressed…" Pietro added, "Ugh, do I have to put the effort into how I look when I go here?"

"The day when you put effort into your appearance is the day when hell freezes over, Pietro," Wanda jabbed, "Maybe if you do, you'll actually get a girlfriend."

Peter tried so hard to keep in his laughter, but his body betrayed him. Pietro then shot Peter a dirty look that screamed, "Are you for real?" Pietro was wearing the bare minimum in terms of fashion. He bore a logoed t-shirt with bright blue jeans and basic white gym shoes. Compared to Wanda's more fashionable choice of a black undershirt, a red jacket, ripped dark jeans, dark gym shoes, and a red bandana wrapped around her head in a nice bow, Pietro's fashion was basic and uninspired.

"Nah, I don't have to put effort into my appearance," Pietro scoffed, "I'm already perfect as is. The girls are gonna run at me."

Wanda rolled her eyes at Pietro's egotist statement. "How am I even related to you?"

"Wanna have a detailed explanation?"

"I'd rather not."

"Guys, Beast is in the class next to us," Peter whispered, peeking into a classroom.

Pietro and Wanda dropped their sibling banter and joined Peter. There they saw Dr. Hank McCoy, also known as Beast. He had a heteromorphic quirk, which meant that he looked different from "regular" humans.

"He's huge," Peter gasped. He stood at 6'8," and was covered head to toe in blue fur. He had fangs, sharpened claws, and had muscles that were reminiscent of an ape. Peter pulled out his hero notebook once more, and wrote down what he was observing.

"Jeez, he's intimidating," Pietro blurted quietly.

"Y-yeah for real," Wanda stammered.

Peter was writing in his notebook with a fervor that was never experienced by man before. He wrote down every detail he saw: how he was reading a book as he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, how even though he looked like a monster he still had to wear glasses to read, how he was now right in front of him? Wait, what?

Peter's soul nearly jumped right out of his body as he came to the discovery that the Pro Hero Beast was now standing right in front of him. He looked to Wanda and Pietro, who were shaking in their soles.

Beast opened the door that separated him from the trio. "Hello! How may I help you, children?"

He's so polite! Peter, Pietro, and Wanda had the same reaction.

Beast took a deep look at the three children that were in front of him, they all had a mixed look of terror, anxiety, curiosity, and amazement plastered onto their faces. He noticed their lack of uniform and came to the only rational conclusion.

"Ah, you must be on tour!" He clapped his hands together and laughed. "I know how overwhelming this school can be at times, with all the pro heroes and promising students treading around." He kneeled down to be at Peter's eye level. "But you should know that at the end of the day, we're all human. We're just like you, and that's why we've become heroes in the first place."

As Beast was giving his small lecture, Peter wrote every word he heard, all while maintaining eye contact with him. Beast took note of this. "Ah, a fine learner, I presume?"

Peter stopped writing and tried to stammer out an answer. "I… I… I…"

Beast gave a hearty laugh. "Oh don't be embarrassed, my boy! Be proud of your sense of curiosity and love for learning."

"That's what I've been trying to tell him for years!" Wanda chimed in gleefully.

"Oh, and you have support as well, young man! By just looking at you three I can tell that you are all extremely close." Beast took a hand each of the trio and put them together, the trio now in a position reminiscent of how sports teams break in their huddles. Peter's face was cascaded in red as he took Wanda's hand. "Cling on to this kinship that you all have, children. If you wish to graduate from this school and become a hero, having friends you can trust is the most important weapon to fight evil that you will ever have."

Peter, to say the least, was starstruck. An esteemed hero, such as Beast, was giving him and his best friends life advice to become heroes! He didn't ask if he was quirkless, and he didn't assume anything negative. Peter had to ask him his question. Beast was the right person to ask.

"D-Dr. McCoy I-" Peter felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, which shocked him deeply.

"What did I say about being on your best behavior?"

Peter, Pietro, and Wanda turned around to see their chaperone, who wore a very annoyed look on his face.

"Sorry, sir." The trio hung their heads in shame.

The chaperone huffed. "I apologize for the annoyance, Doctor."

Beast laughed once again. "Oh do not apologize, my good man. These children are just starstruck!" Beast smiled warmly. "It's not every day that you get to see a pro hero so up close."

The chaperone sighed. "Well, you're not wrong." He motioned to the trio to go back to the group. "We're waiting on you three."

Peter, Pietro, and Wanda said their goodbyes to Beast and headed off on their way. Peter excitedly opened up his notebook yet again and turned to Beast's page. He wrote the word "kind" under his personality profile.

"Jesus Christ." Yet again, Peter perked up to see Flash looking at him yet again. Flash looked away, then, as if nothing happened.

Peter suddenly had a horrible thought. Was Flash going to do something to him on this field trip? There are so many people around, though. Was Flash growing bolder? Did he think he can get away with hurting Peter without anybody noticing? No, he's not that stupid. There are too many people, plus Wanda and Pietro are here. Peter shook his head and walked with the tour guide to the last section on the itinerary.

The final section of the tour was a scientific demonstration by Dr. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, also known as Hulk and Iron Man. The demonstration was held in the school's auditorium, and it was the biggest room that the group had ever been in. They sat in three seats next to each other in the front row of the auditorium.

Wanda reached her hand towards the ceiling. "It's so tall..."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Pietro sneered, "Anything else painfully apparent that you wanna point out?"

Wanda shot a dirty look at him. "You're an idiot who'll run into a ditch on your first day of being a professional hero, and you're going to fall into obscurity as I rise to the top."

"Ouch." Pietro dramatically clutched his chest. "These hot takes are giving me a strong case of 'You'rejustjealousthatIhaveacoolerquirkthanyou-itis.'"

"Oh, I've heard of that! There's a vaccine for it, it's called a 'reality check.'"

"I like Hex more than Super-Speed, I gotta admit," Peter chuckled.

"No, not you too, man!" Pietro reached out to Peter. "Don't tell me she brainwashed you!"

Peter showed Pietro Wanda's page in the hero notebook and pointed to the 'potential'" section. "I mean, Hex can probably make her fly and that's automatically awesome." Peter flipped the page to Pietro's. "While your quirk is astonishing, and you're only going to become stronger with more practice, I don't see you flying. Sooo, yeah."

Pietro's face drooped with disappointment. "Yeah, thanks for the ego check, man."

Peter smiled brightly. "You're welcome!"

Wanda snickered.

"Oh my God," Pietro sighed.

"Hey Pete, can I see my section?" Wanda held out her hand.

"Yeah!" Peter handed Wanda the notebook. "Here."

Wanda flipped to her section of the notebook. She scanned the page and saw that the 'Potential Hero Name was filled with different options. "Wow, there are a lot of names."

Peter scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, like a week ago I sat at my desk and made all of these potential hero names for you. Some of them are cool, but the others… not so much."

Wanda gave a small chuckle as she scanned the names. One name, in particular, caught her gaze. "The Scarlet Witch?"

"I actually really like that one!"

"Sounds like a villain's name, to be honest." Pietro chimed in.

"It sounds cool but…" Wanda pulled a pen out of her purse and added a new name. "How about this?"

Peter and Pietro leaned in to see the name "The Crimson Sorceress."

"That's just 'The Scarlet Witch' with different synonyms, sis."

"Yeah, but it sounds more heroic." Wanda acted like she was putting up a magic barrier between her and the boys. "More magical."

"I like it!" Peter exclaimed.

"Yeah, of course, you would." Pietro sank into his chair. "Whipped," he whispered.

Suddenly, a stinging pain found its home on the backside of Pietro's head as Wanda's hand slapped it. "Ow! What the hell?!"

"I heard that, you dick."

Peter tilted his head in confusion. "Heard what?"

"Don't worry about it, Pete." Wanda winked, but only for a moment.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed and brightened, signaling that the demonstration was going to begin. Peter put on his glasses and pulled out his camera. He wanted to take pictures of the event, and maybe get a better photo of Dr. Banner and Iron Man for his notebook.

Wanda turned to Peter. "Make sure the flash is off, okay?"

"Yeah, ya don't wanna cause any difficulties, alright bud?"

"Don't worry, I turned it off before we even got on the bus," Peter confirmed.

The curtains rose, and there he stood: Dr. Banner, the Incredible Hulk. He stood even taller than Beast did. Peter's estimate put him at least seven feet tall. Dr. Banner wore a suit that had to have been tailor-made for him, considering how buff he was. He wore heavy rimmed glasses, which Peter appreciated. Like Beast, he looked intimidating, but he emanated this feeling of kindness and sincerity. His appearance showed the strength of his character, as for many years, the Hulk was called a menace to the Earth. Dr. Banner has made many TV appearances to talk about his beginning years as the Hulk. How he fled to South America to escape the United States Military, how his childhood trauma fed into the alternate persona that the Hulk adopted, how dealing with anger management is important, and how living with a split personality disorder is just another facet of the crazy experience called Bruce Banner's life. When he merged himself with the Hulk, he explained that he felt whole, but sometimes when pushed to the edge the other personality comes out. He went on to explain that the Hulk wasn't a bad person, far from it. In reality,the Hulk was actually a really kind and gentle creature that just wanted to be left alone. In fact, The Hulkstill had conversations with him about the meaning of life, the ins and outs of heroism, and even what they were going to have for lunch that day. Ever since then, Dr. Banner has been a pioneer in not only the genetic and radiological sciences ,but also in mental health and the understanding of all kinds of disabilities. Whenever Dr. Banner had an interview, Peter made sure to either watch it live or record it; he loved hearing the man talk.

Peter heard the audience murmur about the missing hero who was supposed to be with Dr. Banner on stage: Iron Man. The most popular hero, not only in the USA, but in the entire world. The story of how Tony Stark, a weapons dealer and billionaire playboy philanthropist became the Invincible Iron Man. Everyone knew how it went: Tony Stark was a selfish CEO of Stark Enterprises, and only looked out for himself until he was captured by terrorists in 1998. The terrorists used missiles that were designed by Stark himself and were struck in the chest by shrapnel but were saved by a man who managed to create a magnetic field inside his body to keep the shrapnel from reaching his heart. He was forced to build a new type of weapon for the terrorists, but what he really did was build a suit of armor that augmented his quirk: Arc Reactor. He then became the Invincible Iron Man, and escaped the terrorists' base making it back home to the United States in one piece. He put a stop on all weapon construction, changed Stark Industries to become a humanitarian company, and registered as a hero. He became a cultural icon; everyone knew of Iron Man and his heroism. He wasn't Peter's favorite hero, but he still held a place in Peter's heart as a founding member of the Avengers, and a great hero all around. He hasn't made a public appearance in a while, though, Peter thought.

Dr. Banner stepped up to the mic, tapped it just so slightly to see if it was on, and had to catch it because it almost tipped over. "Sorry, over thirty years of being in this body, and I still can't gauge how strong I actually am." The audience was filled with laughter. Dr. Banner waved his hands to signal the audience to calm themselves. "You might be wondering about the lack of an overinflated ego that's trapped in a yellow and red suit of armor." He took the microphone and started to walk across the stage so that he wouldn't stay static during the presentation. "Unfortunately, about thirty minutes ago, Iron Man was called for duty, and it's my off day.I'll be damned if they call me in." He played with the wire of the microphone. "I never get called into work, I mean," he chuckled, "Would you want to be the one to tell The Hulk that he has to come in on his day off?"

The audience burst into laughter once again, which showcased how strong Dr. Banner was as an enter, Dr. Banner knew how to keep the audience entertained. Peter had a hard time getting a good shot due to his own chuckles.

"I never knew he was such a personality on the stage," Wanda whispered to Peter.

Peter turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Wanda, we watched like five of his interviews two nights ago."

Wanda's face was struck with confusion. "We did?"

Something told Peter that Wanda wasn't paying attention that day, and that made him a bit sad. He soon forgot about it though, considering how the actual presentation began.

"Now, onto the real show." Dr. Banner walked towards the podium that was on his left. "As we know, quirks are genetic in nature, but scientists haven't figured out what they really are yet." A projection of a DNA strand appeared behind him. "However, we do now know that the quirks have a very similar genetic make-up to that of gamma radiation."

"Hey, is that true?" Pietro asked Peter in a whispered tone.

Peter leaned his into Pietro to speak directly into his ear. "Yeah, last year they found out that his irradiated genetics are comparable to quirks. He wasn't born with a quirk, remember? It was the gamma bomb that did it."

"So, to pursue the hypothesis that quirks were birthed from a gamma event, the Avengers Institute and Stark Enterprise partnered with Oscorp to explore this line of thinking."

A sudden thought rushed through Peter's head, Oscorp? That's Harry's dad's company… I haven't texted him in a while. I should see what's up with him when I get home.

"Just recently we made a gigantic scientific breakthrough, we found out how to create quirks."

The audience erupted in disbelief. Soft mumblings filled the auditorium. Some were in disbelief, while others questioned the ethics of such a practice.

"Nah, that's impossible, man." Peter turned his head to Pietro. "There's no way that you can create a quirk just like , an actual quirk, not a superpower born from an explosion or from an experiment, but an actual quirk? I call BS."

"Would you just shut up and watch?" Wanda spat.

"And, this, right here, is the fruit of our labor," Dr. Banner declared as he pressed a small clicker in his hand. "Oh, it didn't break it this time, thank god."

The stage floor opened up. Peter heard the machinery in the under-stage doing its work. Then, out of the blue, he saw a very odd-looking machine rise up. The machine had two parts to it: two pillars stood erect parallel to each other. Each pillar curved into each other, at the end of both points were bright red spheres. Various 'oohs' and 'aahs' were delivered from the audience.

"This, my eager audience, is 'The Quirk Accelerator,' and we are going to make a quirk, right here, right now." Dr. Banner clicked the clicker once again and a thick sheet of glass separated the stage from the audience. "Man, I'm on a roll today," he stated proudly. "Now, once I press this button again, we will create an entirely new quirk."

"Dude, you have to get a shot of this," Pietro demanded.

"Yeah, Pete! Ooo, this is gonna be cool!" Wanda exclaimed in a hushed voice.

Peter excitedly pulled up his camera, but not before double-checking to see if the flash was turned off. He put his eye up to the viewfinder, and pointed his shot towards the Quirk Accelerator. As he took multiple shots of the machine itself, he noticed something that wasn't supposed to be there. It was small, but he saw it. A spider, that was lowering itself from the ceiling with a single strand of its web. Peter didn't know why he focused on such a minuscule thing, but he took a picture of it anyway. Who knows, maybe it'll get him an award or something. That'd be nice, he thought to himself.

"Strap yourself in folks, 'cause this is gonna be one hell of a frickin' light show!" Dr. Banner shouted with excitement.

With yet another click, the Quirk Accelerator hummed. All of the lights that illuminated the stage shut off, and the thick sheet of glass tinted itself to a rather dark degree. Dr. Banner's description was very apt. In between the two pillars, extremely bright electricity flowed and clashed with the two red spheres. Muffled crackles of thunder were heard as the light got brighter and brighter. Peter, in desperation, shot a picture aimed right in the middle of the action. The sheet of glass got darker as the light emanating from the experiment got brighter. The light show got to its final performance as the light suddenly turned a bright green. The light soon disappeared, though. stage lights were turned back on, and Dr. Banner stood there with a big smile. It faulted for a moment, before returning to a grin. "Now, the quirk will be collected. Since we don't have any machine assistance here on the stage, I'll have to collect it myself." Dr. Banner took a small capsule out of his pocket and walked between the two pillars of the Quirk Accelerator. The audience immediately went into various chatter.

Pietro turned to Peter. "Hey, do you think if any of us go blind because of that, Tony Stark will pay us boatloads of money in settlements?"

"'No, we signed away our right to sue in the event of an injury. It's not like Stark would give you anything. It's better for all of us if you were blind."." Wanda shook her head.

"It's true." Peter nodded.

"Aw, man, that can't be legal can it?"

"It's totally legal."

"Ah, so…" Dr. Banner's voice cut the audience's murmuring down to silence. "Apparently, this is our first failed test."

"Told you he was full of-" Pietro was then cut off by a swift kick to the shin, courtesy of Peter. "Ow!"

Dr. Banner walked back to the podium. "But this is to be expected with any realm of science, that is why we go back to see what went wrong here." He clicked the clicker for the last time which resulted in the Quirk Accelerator being lowered back into the stage. "We do have various quirks in storage, but live testing hasn't been authorized by the government yet." He walked downstage to where the mic stood and put it back in place. "We're getting closer to unlocking the mystery of quirks every day. Maybe one day we can even track what the very first quirk was, but for now all we can do is theorize and experiment. I apologize that this was a failure, but I'm very glad that I was able to show you our latest endeavors here at Avengers Tower." Peter took a shot of Dr. Banner as he said this. "I hope to see some of you attend the school next yearand that I sparked a wealth of scientific curiosity within you. Thank you so much, and have a good day, everyone."

The curtains cascaded down upon the stage, and with that, the demonstration came to end. The lights illuminated the auditorium and people got out of their seats and headed towards the exit. Some were bummed, and others were ecstatic to be in the same room as the Incredible Hulk.

Pietro snatched Peter's camera right out of his hands. "Dude, did you get the shots?"

Peter jumped in surprise when he realized that when he blinked, his camera was no longer there. "P-Pietro! Be careful with that!"

Pietro shot a genuine smile at Peter. Pietro was tossing the camera up and then catching it with the same hand without looking at it, showing off his dexterity. "Don't worry, man! I'm the most careful person in the world."

Wanda crossed her arms. "You literally broke a plate at dinner last night."

"A one-time incident, won't happen again." Pietro tossed the camera up again and waited for it to come back down, but it never did. "Wait, what the hell?"

"Interesting camera you got there, Maximoff. I'm surprised you could afford something like this."

Pietro groaned as he recognized the voice, he turned around to see Flash going through the pictures on the camera. "That was a lazy insult you had there buddy. Let me guess, did the parasite come up with that one?"

"Funny," Flash grunted.

Peter stood in utter fear as Flash held his camera. The phrase, Why does he have it? Why does he have it? kept repeating in his mind. This was his biggest fear.

"Here ya go, Parker." Flash held out the camera in front of Peter. "Just wanted to make sure you didn't have any weird pics of me."

"O-okay." Peter hesitantly reached out to grab the camera. "Thanks, Fla-"

A thud. A crack. The sound of plastic falling onto marble flooring. Glass shattered. Peter's gaze peered downward to see his camera in pieces.

A devious smile crawled onto Flash's face. "Whoops."

Peter was stunned. Did that actually just happen?

"Thompson!" Pietro grasped Flash's shoulder and forcefully turned him around to face him. "What the fu-?!"

A black tendril shot itself out of Flash's body and hit Pietro square in the face. He backed up, holding his nose in pain. "Don't touch me, you freak."

"Pietro!" cried Wanda.

"That's it!" Pietro pushed against his right nostril and exhaled from his nose, a clot of blood flew out of his left nostril. "I've been playing nice for Peter's sake, but you just crossed the damned line, Thompson!"

"Pietro, stop this!" Wanda exclaimed with a desperate expression on her face. "Don't fight him!"

Peter backed up against the wall of the stage. His legs quivered beneath him. A fight? Here?

"Nah, nah, sis!" Pietro rolled up his sleeves as he walked towards Flash. "This guy has been a pain in our asses for years, I've been wanting to put him in his place."

Flash took his stride over to Pietro. The symbiote crawled itself onto his skin and up his neck. "Let's do this, wuss. Show me you're a real man and not some pathetic bitch."

"Bring it on, douchebag." Pietro leapt forward at Flash in less than a second. Fists flew, and the fight began.

"Pietro, no!" Wanda rushed towards the scene.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God," Peter muttered over and over. He curled himself into a ball. His breathing became fast and uneven. He felt light headed, too. A sensation of dread and anxiety swept up his body in a hurricane of fear. "Nononononononono." Why did this always have to happen? Today was supposed to be a good day, for crying out loud. Why did Flash have to ruin it again? Pietro was just making it worse. He won't be allowed back into Avengers Academy. Peter thought about his camera, and the thought alone forced him into a shaking fit. He was glued to the sight; his precious camera, it was in pieces. It used to belong to his mother. The name: Mary Fitzgerald, was written in sharpie on the side. Why did this always happen to him? Why did he bring bad luck wherever he goes? Why was he so useless? Why was he quirkless? Why am I just human? Why do I-

Peter felt a stinging pain on his right hand and slapped it. "Ow!" He looked down and his hand and saw a giant bite mark, and the corpse of the spider he just squashed. He sighed. "This day's just getting better and better." Perhaps the spider bite was a blessing in disguise, it broke him out of his panic attack. He sighed again and steadily began to stand back up. He started walking towards Wanda, but with every step he began to slow down. He felt as if there was a giant weight on his shoulders. His legs turned into jelly. He started to shake violently. "Wh-what's happening to me?"

"-eter? A-e -o- oka-?"

Is that Wanda's voice?

"W-ah! B-o yo- goo-?"

Pietro?

"Y-! Wa-cr-ler! Th- -ck's th- ma-er?!"

Flash?

His vision started to become blurry, and darkness crept in from the edges of his eyes. "Wanda, I… I don't feel so good." Peter lost all control, and immediately lost consciousness as he hit the ground.

"Peter?!"

To be continued…

Ahhh it's finally done! I'm so sorry that it took so long to get this out but man, have you seen what's been happening outside?! This originally was going to be a lot longer, but thanks to a suggestion from my girlfriend, the chapter is being posted today! Thank you so much to Maiser for doing a wonderful job for editing this, I wouldn't be posting it without ya man. The next chapter is already being worked on as I type this and it won't be as a long of a wait before it's posted (hopefully!) Stay tuned for the next chapter: Parasites!