HS 206
Manhattan, NY
Daniel "Poet" McKenna slammed his locker shut, and grabbed his bag off the ground, heading off to the courtyard for lunch. He was kinda the oddball in school. He didn't listen to mainstream pop or hip hop or rap music; he didn't take steroids or was overly infatuated with Jennifer Lawrence; and he was kinda anti-social and ignored any advances, opposite sex or otherwise.
Maybe the last part had something to do with his looks. His gray-white hair, with a blood red streak going from the base of his skull all the way to the bangs he left over his left eye, was an immediate noticeable trait. Next was his sturdy build. Standing at about 5'8, he was muscular, but not overly so. He looked like a lean base runner- which he was. The next thing you would notice- if you got close enough- were the scars. Dozens covered his body, the nastiest wrapped up in tight, antiseptic bandages. On his face, he had quite a few. One went straight across his nose, leaving a still-red mark; another cut across his right eye, down his cheek, across his lip, and ended on his chin; the next noticeable one was five long scratch-like marks covering the entire left side of his face.
He also had rough, calluses hands. Many assumed it was from playing the guitar or doing baseball all the time. He always laughed to himself on the inside at that. Oh, if they knew how he really got those. Hours a day on the bow, knuckles smashing in faces, gripping a knife tightly; painful ways to get a painless feeling.
He was moving to his little corner of the courtyard when he was approached by the "Squad"- basically your stereotypical football jocks picking on the kinda-shrimp. He groaned loudly, and turned to face them.
"Whatdaya want, Escobar?" he roughly asked. 'Escobar' turned red in rage, before breathing out and smirking smugly. Petro San Roacha, the resident drug lord's son, had quite the influence in the school. After all, who wants to wind up dead in a trash dump?
"Hey, MAC," he leered, before laughing at his own horrible joke. Dan stood there, not amused, before yawning loudly and quirking an eyebrow. "Listen, Bug, you can talk like a normal person, or you can be a shithead. Take your pick," Dan sighed, waving his arms in an over dramatic manner.
Petro growled, before shoving into Dan's personal space, and yelling (Spit included! Yay!) in his face, "WHAT!? TOO SCARED TO FIGHT ME?! COME ON, TAKE A SHOT!" He held his arms wide open, smirking.
Dan sighed, before flipping open his sketch book and doodling a quiet girl in the back of the crowd. Soft features, pale skin, and brown hair, with a few dark blue streaks, and a kind of "emo" look, consisting of mostly dark colored clothes. He smirked; Gabbie always was a fellow social rebel, yet they never talked.
A few minutes of pencil lead killing later, Petro roared in frustration, "COME ON, YOU CHING CHANG DRUNK IRISH PUSSY, HIT ME!"
A silence fell over the crowd of whispering teens. NOBODY insulted Danny McKenna and walked away unscathed. He stopped drawing, and not even looking up, almost whispered, "Excuse me?"
The football jock smiled smugly, yet nervously, swaggering before exclaiming, "Yeah you little mixed freak! Too pussy to fight like a man? Never learned Ching Chang Foo? Or you too drunk, like your pops?"
A quiet, soft voice spoke out, "Really? I've heard better insults on Minecraft, Petro." Petro angrily turned around, and slapped Gabbie backhanded, leaving a red mark, while yelling, "SHUT UP, EMO WHORE!"
That did it. Nobody got hurt on his watch.
Petro found a fist in his face, before hitting the ground hard. "You motherfucker," he growled, the football gang forming behind him. 'This might be fun,' thought Danny. Then they charged.
The first one was met with a fist to the face, breaking his nose and knocking him out. Another was kicked in the ribs, breaking a few, before slamming into a cheap plastic bench, which promptly fell over. The third and fourth got smart (sorta), and circled around him. Jock 1 threw a low punch, and Jock 2 kicked. Dan got in the crab push-up position, and watched as the kick connected with the punch, breaking the guy's hand.
As he screamed, Dan shot back up, and twisting his arm back, he snapped the bone, breaking the limb, before throwing him into his friend, who stumbled back. He delivered a hard punch to the broken limb jock, before kicking his friend in the jaw, breaking that. He screamed in agony, blood pooling in his mouth.
Petro suddenly forced Dan to the ground, and four of his buddies restrained him. With his spider-enhanced strength, he could have easily gotten out, but he had to keep up his secret identity. Petro yanked open his mouth, and grabbed his tongue, smiling maniacally. "No more sarcasm for you, McKenna..." he growled, before he felt pain. Hot, searing pain. He yelled, and looked at the source of it: his wrist. Dan was biting his wrist, and seemed to have no intention to let go.
"GET HIM OFF ME!" He screamed, desperately trying to pull his disabled hand free of the almost fang like teeth of the teen in front of him. He bit down harder, breaking through the few veins and arteries in his hand, before he felt bone. Blood was pooling in his mouth, the irony taste overwhelming him. He needed to finish this now.
He gave it everything he had, and broke the bone, as Petro yanked back. The hand separated from the wrist, and everyone screamed. A bloody stump, with cracked bone and shooting out blood, was all that was left on the football player's right hand. The others immediately let go of him. "What the fuck!?" "Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod..." "*retch*" These and more filled the now panicked high school, except for two.
"Here, rinse with this," a soft voice whispered in Dan's ear. Gabbie handed him a water bottle, which he drank after removing the dismembered hand from his mouth. He rinsed and spit several times, getting the blood and body parts out. "Thanks," he hoarsely muttered, popping in a piece of chewing gum to get rid of the taste.
"Come on," Gabbie said, offering her hand, "we'll hide out at my place." He grinned and shot off the ground, startling the girl. "Lead the way," he said. She smiled, and leapt nimbly over people and obstacles, on the way to the exit. He followed, grabbing their bags.
A few minutes of chaos later...
"Well, that was interesting," Gabbie whispered, teeth chattering. It was well below 20, and even in NYC, the temperature didn't change that much. Sensing her lack of warmth, Dan offered her his leather jacket/fleece hoodie. She accepted gratefully, and curled it around her. It was almost comically romantic. The thing went well below her waist, stopping just above her knees.
She still shivered however, but blushed nonetheless, with wearing the hottest guy in school's jacket and seeing him in just a skintight UnderArmor workout shirt. Oh, how those bitches would KILL to be her right now. She frowned. It was like 12 degrees out, but he gave her his only protection. Yet he showed no signs of being cold at all.
"You still cold?" he asked, looking at her worriedly. She blushed again, but nodded, saying, "Only a bit..." He hoisted her up on his back, hands wrapped securely around her thighs. She was glad he couldn't see her face- it must have been more red than Rudolph's nose.
She directed him to her apartment on West 7th street and 6th Avenue. She tried to ignore the muscles she was gripping, the attractiveness of the guy she was using as a heater, the scent of his sweat covered body... In vain.
They finally arrived at her place, where Gabbie promptly hopped off and dashed into the bathroom to cool her flaming face. Dan was standing awkwardly in the main room, looking around. He looked out the window to the open street. 'Too exposed,' he thought, closing the curtains.
Gabbie came out of the bathroom, her cheeks slightly less red now, yet still clad in his jacket. She saw him pacing around, muttering to himself, as well as frowning, closing curtains, moving place to place, and fists clenching then unclenching.
She herself frowned- what was going on here, exactly?
"Danny, you alright?" she seemed to break him out of his stupor. He looked up, startled, before hastily replying, "Yeah, uh huh, fine, just dandy, all good here, yeah."
He cursed himself on the inside- he could go up against DEADPOOL in a fight, yet get nervous when talking to an, admittedly, very cute girl, who happened to still be wearing his jacket? Yeah, welcome to his life.
She shrugged, before plopping down on the couch and flipping through the channels. She seemed interested in one, and suddenly the Orca and crew filled the screen. It showed the "Chief" and Quint in an argument, with Hooper staring at a dorsal fin in the distance. Dan grinned; Jaws was pretty cool.
As Hooper opened his mouth, Dan did as well. "Boys, oh boys," both started out, "I think he's coming for his afternoon feeding." Gabbie had a small giggle at that. He could be so stupid sometimes.
They spent the rest of the day watching whatever was on- Jaws, Battle: Los Angeles, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (only the credits, because both agreed they wanted to hear 21 Guns by Green Day), and other stuff.
As night drew closer, both were caught dozing off and drooling. Typical bored teenagers.
As Danny was about to fall completely unconscious, he felt a tingling in the back of his head. Spidey sense, he realized. He shot up, and saw a red and blue blur heading to the window. His eyes widened, as he grabbed Gabbie and hit the floor.
She woke up with a yelp, as Spider-Man crashed through the window, and continued through the wall. "WHAT THE FUCK!" she screamed, wide eyed. Dan got ready, hearing a maniacal laugh. "Goblin," he muttered.
He turned back to the scared girl, and grabbed her, "Get outta here, Gabbie. I'll be right behind you, go!" He shoved her towards the door, her seemingly taking off. He didn't blame her. He dashed towards the fallen hero he'd seen.
As he ran, a black silk like material ran over his skin, wrapping him in a light yet protective layer of clothing. As it formed over his head, the black was disrupted by a dark, blood red patch over both eyes, blinking brightly for a second before settling in darkness again.
A small, box-like form appeared on his back, and two knife holsters on his outer thighs. Gabbie, who had hidden behind a wall, gasped. Danny was the Arachnid Archer!?
He had heard her gasp, and gave an exasperated sigh. He tore through the rubble, and finally pulled out his fellow Spider hero. He slapped him, trying to wake him up.
"Ey, Spidey, wake up... Wake up, hero, get your game on... WAKE UP, DAMMIT, PARKER!" He finally screamed in his ear, knowing he had sensitive hearing. A yelp and girlish shriek announced his return to consciousness.
"Where am I..?" Spidey asked, clutching his head. His eye pieces widened, and he shot up, screaming, "GOBLIN!" He suddenly turned to Danny, pointing, "You! Fury wanted us to find you! And is that... Oh no... Venom?" He trailed off at the end, raising his fists.
Archer waved him down, "Easy, pal. I'm not Venom. Anyway, I'll help you with Goblin, then see Fury, mkay?" Spidey contemplate this, and nodded. "Alright, but I'm holding you to that," he exclaimed. Both felt a tingling in their skull, turning to see a Goblin deploy spearheads out of his glider and charge a screaming Gabbie.
"GABBIE!" screamed Archer, launching himself in front of her. The blades pierced his skin, jutting right through him and poking out the other side. Blood pooled in his mouth, and he gurgled a bit. He looked up at the monster with pained and angry eyes.
"Oh well," Goblin said, unsheathing his blades from the body of Archer, "guess he wasn't all that bright." Spidey roared in rage, and screamed, "YOU'LL PAY, YOU PSYCHOTIC BASTARD!" Goblin grinned, "Try me, insect."
Gabbie laid Archer against the wall, sobbing. He grabbed her hand, and pulled his mask up enough to see his mouth in a smirk. He coughed up blood, and rasped, "Hey Gab, it'll take more than some pointy metal sticks to kill me." He gave her a lopsided grin as she cried harder, and dragged her hand to his wound. Instead of a gaping hole, she opened her watery eyes to see the wound closing up, and the suit healing itself as well. A red scar was the only evidence it was there.
She gasped, as Archer shot her a heart melting grin, pecking her lips chastely before shoving her towards the exit. He winked, before sealing the hallway off in webbing. A police officer barged out of the stairwell, and said something before grabbing her and pushing her down the stairs.
The last thing she heard was an animistic roar, a few explosions, and whimpering from a certain now-deformed Goblin being tortured by a slightly insane super powered maniac.