A/N: Holy crap! There are people from all over the world reading this! Thank you!

Okay, so, yeah, no more weekly updates. Or currently, anyways. The High Holidays are a-happening, college is crazy, and I am striving for a job. I do have all the material for Episode 2, but the updating is going to be slow, since I'm not happy with how Episode 3 came out.

I'm not abandoning this story. I'm planning at doing, at the very least, two seasons, so, no worries.

Also, if anyone has any time to comment down below, that would be appreciated! I don't have a beta, all the editing is being done by your's truly, so if you notice something that is worthy of critics, please let me know.

All right! Onto the story!

They didn't stop tutoring until around dinner time, so May offered to let Liz stay over for dinner. Much to Peter's surprise, she accepted.

May handed Peter a twenty, and told them to pick up some takeout.

"Good luck, Pete." May winked.

The teenager made a face at her. "May-!"

"Call me when you guys get there!" May called out as the two left the apartment.

Liz and Peter walked in silence for a moment, before the popular girl said, "Your aunt is nice."

Peter side-eyed her. "Uh…yeah…."

"Is that why you stay with her?" Liz continued.

The brunette stiffened. "Why are you asking?"

Liz shrugged. "I'm curious. I didn't know that you didn't live with your parents."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Liz, we've been in the same school since the second grade."

The black haired girl flushed. "So?"

Peter shrugged. "Nothing. Sorry, it's stupid that I...I kind just assumed that people knew that about me, but I guess not."

"Knew what?" Liz pressed.

The boy sighed. "I don't really like talking about this. No offense. It's hard to talk about."

Liz stiffened. "Oh…."

Peter shifted. "It's okay. I just...I don't feel comfortable talking about it."

"Oh." Liz repeated. She glanced around nervously. "Don't you ever get scared living here? I feel like we're about to get mugged or something."

"I grew up here." Peter shrugged. "It's just normal to me. Besides, I have this."

He held out his keys to reveal a small bottle of pepper spray.

Liz snorted. "Right. Like that's going to help if we're at gunpoint."

Peter shrugged. "Well, we'll just hurry before the sun goes down. And hey, if you get scared, we can call Aunt May to pick us up."

Liz punched his arm. "I'm not scared! You're the one who's scared!"

"Oh yes," Peter replied. "Look at me as I shake in terror."

Liz chuckled. Then she stared ahead. A thought seemed to occur to her, and she chewed her lip.

"….I'm having a lot of fun with you today." She admitted.

Peter side-eyed her. She seemed sincere.

"Yeah, I'm having fun, too." The boy admitted back.

Liz chewed her lip.

"Don't tell Flash I said that." She added quickly.

Peter snorted. "You think me of all people is just going to sit down and chat with Flash?"

Liz shrugged. "He gets jealous pretty easily. He wasn't even too happy that I was coming over to your place."

"Trust me, I am no threat to Flash Thompson, and he will never see me as one." The brunette shrugged. "Quite the opposite, actually."

Liz opened and closed her mouth. Than she stared ahead again. "Right…."

Peter glanced at her again.

He was really surprised with how the situation was going. Besides the couple of insults that she threw his way, Liz Allen…She wasn't actually that bad.

Not that Peter thought that they were going to end up being best buds or something. He supposed that it was just…nice to be wrong about someone.

"Here we are." Peter said. He pointed to the pizza parlor, and he opened the door for her. "Do you like pineapple on your pizza?"

Liz nodded.

"Cool, you're not a boring person, than." Peter replied, with a bit of a smile.

Liz rolled her eyes. "I like what I like. That whole, 'You're a sinner if you like pineapple on your pizza' stuff is stupid."

Peter laughed. "It's a joke. It's not like people actually mean it."

"My friends make fun of me for it all the time." Liz huffed.

Peter closed the door behind them. "Mine do, too!"

The two approached the back of the line. They joked around for a little bit, before Peter's phone started to ring.

"Oh, that might be May." Peter said as he fished out his phone. He froze when he saw the caller ID. "Shiiiiitttt, I forgot that she was going to call me."

"'She'? What, you have a girlfriend or something?" Liz tipped his phone towards her, and frowned. "Gwen Stacy? That sick girl?"

"Yeah, she's one of my friends." Peter gulped. "I'll just tell her that I'm busy. She can yell at me all she wants later."

Liz snickered. "Gwen seems so nice. What on earth did you do to piss her off?"

Peter glanced at her. He was tempted to tell her the story, but realized that she was probably going to think that it's stupid, or that he was super lame for liking video games.

So, instead, he said, "It's kind of stupid. Don't worry about it."

"Oh." Liz replied. She glanced at her own phone. "Okay, then."

The two paused for a moment as they looked at their phones (Peter texted his aunt instead of calling). After a few moments, they were called to make an order.

"It shouldn't take too long for them to make it." Peter commented as they sat down. "They're usually pretty fast here."

Liz nodded. She chewed on the inside of her cheeks, and frowned at her phone. "My dad wants to pick me up at seven thirty."

Peter nodded. He checked the time. "Okay. If thing's take too long, I'll just ask May to pick us up-"

His spider sense tingled slightly.

Peter froze, and looked up.

Liz frowned at him. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" The brunette's eyes darted around. "Yeah, fine, great."

There was no one there that was making his senses tingle.

"Peter? Is something wrong? You're acting all…twitchy."

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. Everything's fine." Peter tapped his fingers nervously. "I just…I think I forgot to do my laundry, is all."

Liz furrowed her eyebrows. "Right…."

Their order was called.

Peter quickly grabbed it. Liz frowned at him as he rushed towards the door, but followed him anyways.

"What is wrong with you?" She asked, as she jogged to catch up with him.

"Nothing. I'm just...I'm scared. Of the dark. And it's getting dark soon."

Liz eyed him suspiciously. She opened her mouth to respond, but Peter's spider senses sent shivers down his spine.

He grabbed her arm, and they both stopped.

"What? What are you doing?" Liz demanded.

Peter glanced around nervously.

"Seriously? What is up with you? You're creeping me…out?..."

The pair froze as a floating orb of blue light drifted slowly towards them from up above. The two of them gaped at it.

'Okay,' Peter thought. 'That's really weird. But it isn't what's making my spidey-sense go off….'

"What is that?" Liz gasped.

"Something that we should probably ignore." Peter replied.

The glowing orb began to move.

Liz gripped his arm. "Let's follow it!"

Peter blanched. "Are you crazy? You seriously want to follow the glowing blue orb of doom?"

"Stop being dramatic! It might lead us to something interesting." Liz let go of him, and began to follow it.

'For a girl who was so afraid of getting mugged, she seems surprisingly calm about this!'

Peter jogged up to her. "Liz, this is a terrible idea!"

"Grow a pair, Parker. It's just a glowing ball."

"Yeah! The orb from the TomSki video was also just a glowing ball-A glowing ball that could shoot lasers and warp reality!"

Liz huffed. "Ah, c'mon, Peter. Haven't you ever wanted to go on an adventure? Like in the movies?"

"You mean in the movies where all the side characters die? Liz, I am the most side-character of side characters!"

"We're not going to die."

"You don't know that!"

Peter felt like ripping his hair out. But Liz refused to listen, and he had a feeling that she was similar to MJ in that regard.

It wasn't until the orb led them to a dock where a thought occurred to Peter. He grabbed Liz's arm, and tugged her behind a large thing of crates (it should be, at this point, where it should be noted that the food was ditched in an alleyway).

"You know," He whispered. "That alien invasion wasn't too long ago."

Liz frowned at that. "So?"

"So," Peter said. "What if this is a trap? To, you know, lore stupid humans, like us?"

Liz's eyebrows furrowed. It was clear that she never thought of that.

Peter gripped her arm. "Let's just go, Liz. Let's go back to my apartment, and tell the police that-"

His spider senses went off.

He paused.

"Peter?" Liz asked. "Peter, you're making that weird face again-"

He shushed her.

The sounds of footsteps shuffled throughout the empty dock. The teenagers exchanged looks.

"It's probably a security guard." Liz whispered.

"Or whoever sent that orb." Peter whispered back.

The footsteps got closer. Peter held his breath, hoping beyond hope that this person would just pass them. His spider-sense screamed at him to run.

Suddenly, the footsteps paused.

A voice called out, "Hello, Peter Parker."

The pair froze.

The voice continued, "I know that you're there. There's no point hiding."

Peter glanced at Liz. He mouthed, 'Stay here.' before revealing himself.

And revealing the person.

The teenager's mouth dropped at the sight of the man who was making his spider-senses go haywire.

He wore the most ridiculous costume Peter had ever seen. A green and purple outfit, with a long cape, and he was wearing a…a fishbowl, of all things, for a helmet!

Honestly, Peter would have laughed if it weren't for the fact that he and Liz were in danger.

"Now, where's your friend, Pete?" Fish-Bowl Guy asked. "The one you were running around with?"

Peter gulped. 'This dude's been spying on me.'

"She's gone." Peter replied hoarsely. "She ran away."

"And you didn't?"

The teenager gulped. "What do you want?"

"Oh, just to chat," The man replied. "Lovely night, isn't it? The stars sure look bright-Well, they would, if there was no light pollution. Humans sure like to ruin the best of nature in the name of innovation, don't we? Walk with me, Peter."

The teenager didn't move.

Fish-Bowl Man sighed. "Look, Pete. I know that that girl is still here. And I really don't want to do this, but if you don't behave, I'll have no choice but to attack her. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Peter exhaled sharply. "I barely know her. Please, sir, we're not even friends-"

"Does it matter?" He swore, the guy was smirking under his fishbowl. "Just do as I say, and you won't have to force my hand."

Peter stared at him in distrust.

"It's only you I'm after," The man continued. "I'd rather not involve innocent civilians, if I could. Really, if you only participate, she's free to go."

The teenager nodded. "Fine. But if you hurt her in anyway-"

"Relax." The man replied. He gestured for Peter to follow, so he did.

Neither of them spoke for a minute. All Peter could focus on was whether or not Liz had taken advantage of the situation, and ran away. God, he hoped so. He couldn't imagine her not doing so.

Afterall, an afternoon of hanging out didn't make the pair best friends or anything. They were still complete strangers, for the most part. He couldn't imagine her sticking around. Hopefully, she was at a safe distance, calling '911'.

"I've always liked the ocean." The fish-bowl guy suddenly said.

Peter stiffened. "Oh."

"Yes." The fish-bowl guy nodded (or at least, the fish bowl bobbed a little). "Ever since I was a child. I loved the mystery of the ocean. You know, humans barely know anything about the ocean. Seventy percent of it remains undiscovered."

'Yeah, okay, thanks for telling me about your precious childhood memory, you potentially murderous creep!'

They continued onto an empty dock, which immediately made Peter feel uneasy.

"The ocean is also good at getting rid of trash," The guy continued. "I'm not such a fan of that aspect, but humanity has been dumping garbage in the ocean for years. Nuclear waste, plastic bottles, sunken ships…Crashing planes…."

Peter stiffened.

"You could imagine that I'm not such a fan of all that."

"Is this a lecture on environmental science?" Peter asked stiffly. "Because I already took that course."

The Fish-Bowl guy chuckled. "No, this is no class on anything. I'm simply monologuing."

"Oh."

They paused at the edge of the dock.

"Want to know a secret, Peter?"

"Not really."

"There is a certain type of trash that I don't mind the ocean taking. Want to know what type that is?"

"I think I'm good…"

"Human trash." The man paused. "Trash like…I don't know…Richard Parker, for example?"

Peter immediately stiffened.

"Ah, yes, Peter Parker," His spider-senses went off. "I don't mind if trash like you or your father gets thrown in the ocean at all."

The man suddenly pushed him.

Peter could have stopped the push. It would have been easy. But he was in shock.

Something he couldn't do, however, was stay on the dock. His shoes were on, so his sticking power was completely useless. And another thing he couldn't do: Thermoregulate.

Despite the warm weather of the approaching summer, the ocean refused to remain any temperature that wasn't 'freezing your butt off' cold. So, as soon as Peter landed in the ocean, his body immediately numbed up.

He held his breath, and tried to swim upwards. The cold was making it hard for him to move, so it felt like he was trying to swim through molasses rather than water.

Peter struggled for ten seconds. He was losing air, and he was losing air fast. He was pretty certain that he was going to die, which sucked, because he never got to build a rocket that was strong enough to last on Jupiter, like he always dreamed of doing. Or joining the Avengers. Or going to college. Or even trying bubble tea.

He was just about to make a mental farewell to his friends and May, when the water shifted.

The teenager blinked his sluggish eyes, and realized that there was someone approaching him. The person grabbed his arm, and pushed them both upwards. The two quickly reached the surface, just as Peter had taken a large gulp of salt water.

As soon as they broke through, Peter gagged and coughed. He felt himself being dragged somewhere, so he decided that now was the time to see who saved him.

It was Liz.

Peter coughed out salt water in surprise.

"What were you thinking?" Liz shrieked as she dragged them towards a ladder. "Following a supervillain into danger, like that? Are you absolutely insane?"

"Is-is h-he go-gone?" Peter shivered.

"He disappeared the second that he pushed you! Oh, you are so lucky that I'm in the swim team, or you'd be dead right now!"

Peter's brain felt numb. "Th-thought y-you we-were a ch-cheerl-leader."

Liz huffed. "Is this really the time to-You know what, never mind! Let's just get you home."

Peter jerked slightly. "No-no! Ca-can't tell Aunt May! She-she'll wo-worry!"

"Uh, yeah! Cause she's your parent! Will you climb the damn ladder? It's freezing!"

The frozen teen numbly pawed his hands against the ladder. His fingers felt thick and numb. It wasn't until they both got on the dock where Peter stuttered out, "He-he knew my da-dad."

Liz winced. She looked a little awkward. "Ye-yeah. I heard."

They paused.

"Don-don't tell anyone."

The girl's eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? There's a supervillain after you!"

Peter shivered. "He-About my d-dad-he sa-said…."

He shuddered.

Liz studied him. A tired expression flickered on his face.

"You knew what he was talking about, don't you?" She said.

"No-not com-completely." Peter admitted. He shuddered again, and shakily stood up. "I ha-have a gu-guess. Bu-but this is ab-about my da-dad, s-so, I need-need to-This is my-Pl-please, L-Liz, don't te-tell anyone about this."

Liz studied him. She sighed. "I'll think about it."

Peter had a feeling that that was all he was going to get.

Liz checked her phone, and cursed. "Broken. Looks like we're walking."

Peter shivered.

Liz glanced at him. "How exactly are you going to explain to your aunt why we're soaking-"

Above them, thunder clapped.

The two jumped.

"Tha-that mi-might help." Peter stuttered.