ISSUE #4: The New Kids

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Zane Blackard and Brian Millar. They just transferred in from out of state. I believe Zane is from New Jersey, and Brian just moved from Florida. Zane, I'd like you to sit by Eugene. Brian, you can take the empty desk next to Peter."

Zane was tall and a rather imposing figure. He had dark features, accentuated by the black clothing he wore. As Peter looked, from his head to his toe Zane was wearing only black. Black shoes, socks, pants, and shirts made up his entire wardrobe. Even his hair was dyed a deep black, and hung low over his pierced eyebrows. He was about six feet, three inches tall and very muscular. As he moved, he carried the attention of the class all the way to his seat. Brian on the other hand was much shorter, about five feet, eight inches tall. He was good-looking enough without being overly attractive. His light brown, sandy-colored hair, was a little bit long; he had blue eyes, and dressed like everybody else. If Professor Gusterson hadn't mentioned him, it was likely that no one in the class would have noticed him at all. At lunch, Zane ignored Harry and Johnny and sat by himself. A couple people tried to sit near him, but he glared at them, and they quickly moved away. Peter saw Brian sitting alone out of the corner of his eye, as he prepared to sit at Eugene's table. "Hey, Eugene, let's sit with the new guy. He looks a little out-of-place."

"Uh, no thanks, Pete. Zane's a little creepy for me."

"Not Zane, the other new kid, Brian. He looks nice enough, and he doesn't know anyone here. Let's be friendly to him, before Harry and Johnny get a chance."

Peter picked up his tray, and Eugene grudgingly followed over to Brian's table. "Hey, Brian! How's your first day of school going?"

"It's going, I guess. I hate school. I always have, would much rather be outside. I love nature. It's so peaceful outside. You're Peter, right?"

"Exactly. Hope you don't mind us sitting here."

"No, I welcome the company. I was getting kinda lonely here." He turned and looked at Eugene. "Is it Flash?"

"Um, no, that's a, uh, nickname. Call me Eugene. Please?" Eugene finished the "please" on a very pleading note.

Brian gave Peter a glance, Peter mouthed that he would tell Brian the whole story later. "Okay, then Eugene it is. Nice to meet you."

"Um, it's nice to meet you too."

As Mary Jane walked up to where Peter and Eugene were sitting, she saw Peter start looking around for Gwen. He was obviously hoping to be able to position himself into a place where he could stare at her during lunch. Oh, Peter, MJ thought to herself, I wish you wouldn't waste your time with her. Why can't you see what's so obviously in front of your face? Instead, you have to look for THAT whore every day! Peter had finally spotted a glimpse of what he thought was Gwen when Brian spoke up. "Hey, dude, I don't know who you're looking for, but the hottie behind you doesn't seem to like it too much."

Peter sat up all of a sudden and turned around, blushing slightly. "Uh, hi, MJ! This is Brian; he's new here, I met him in first period today. Brian, this is my best friend, Mary Jane Watson, or MJ for short. Head this way are Jason Banks and his girlfriend Crystal. Jason's one of the big sports stars, you'll probably hear about him a lot as football season gets underway."

"Dude, that's awesome! I love sports!"

Peter had a surprised look on his face. "Really? I didn't really take you for a sports fan."

"Oh, the only one i can actually do is wrestling, but I love to watch pretty much any sport. Baseball, football, basketball, even tennis and golf occasionally. I just can't help but sit down and watch it."

Jason had started to sit down and got a smile on his face as he heard Brian ramble on about sports. "You said you wrestle?"

"YES! It's awesome, normal guys like me can do well, not just the more athletic people."

"Cool! I wrestle too!" He and Brian continued to talk for several minutes.

MJ, Crystal, Peter, and even Eugene started exchanging glances. They knew that once Jason got started on sports, he would never shut up. It seemed that Brian was the perfect person to talk to them about, a fact they were just beginning to realize and regret.

Across the room, Vicki was trying to eat her lunch while ignoring Blake and Joe. Like his brother, Jason was a sports nut, and Blake almost matched him. Usually Vicki kept up with sports just to talk to them, and her terrible crush on Joe might have also been a factor. She had tried to make it as obvious to him as possible, but in typical guy fashion, he hadn't a clue about it. Today however, she still had a small headache from Blackout's touch, and she tried to replay the scene in the bank over in her mind. She wanted to figure out if she could spot any weakness that she could exploit next time she ran into him.

Well, I know he can steal our powers, but he can also create that painful darkness. Is the darkness his power? Or is his power absorption similar to Rogue's? Did he take the darkness from somebody? Even so, how do we combat him? I got my butt kicked royally last time; I need to see if I can find Spidey tonight to discuss this with him. Too bad that he doesn't just go to school here, that would make it so much easier.

After school, Peter prepared to go home. He said goodbye to Jason, MJ, and the rest of the gang, which now included Brian. As he prepared to get on the bus to go home, he heard his name called out. "Peter! Ben's here to walk home with you." Peter turned around and saw Ben standing with MJ.

"Thanks, MJ! Hey, Ben, how are you? How come you came over here?"

"Oh, well, Nick has been sick today, and I miss getting to hang out with you, so I decided you and me could walk home together. I, uh, I got a ride over here."

Across town, as Peter and Ben continued their conversation and prepared to leave the school, Nick sat on his bed with a determined look on his face. he needed to find Blackout, no matter the risk. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, putting all his energy into reconnecting the momentary bond with Blackout. He felt the darkness coming back, threatening to knock him out again, but before it did, he finally got a location. Blackout was at Midtown High School, where Ben's cousin Peter went to school!