Author's Note: I LIVE! Surgery went well. Currently laid up recovering so hopefully I'll be able to get some new chapters out. I own nothing.

27. Fans

Piper reached the warehouse in under five minutes. It was dark, someone had taken out the powerlines nearby, cutting off power to the entire block. Piper tapped her watch, summoning JARVIS. The AI would send out a tip about the downed powerlines. Piper slipped into the warehouse through one of the upper windows. She blinked slightly as her night vision slipped into place. She had installed several modes into the lenses of her mask, night vision had been quite useful against Taskmaster. Right now the green filtered light showed her the figures of her team racing around the warehouse. From the outside one would think that it was just a regular stopping off point for cargo coming into to harbor. But inside the warehouse, among the crates, was a towering structure tat reached from ceiling to floor. Piper had thought about setting the trap in a different location when the drone she'd sent into the warehouse has spotted that. It was too interesting but that meant that someone would be coming back for it. It seemed that Piper had been right as Ava was thrown across the warehouse landing hard on her back.

"Anybody got eyes on the target?" Piper asked through the coms as she swung through the rafters towards the source of the fight.

"I got him!" Luke called out before swearing and being thrown through a nearby crate. Danny was easy to find by the glow of his fist.

"I don't believe it, he survived!" Danny was the next one down, flung after Luke. Piper's heart dropped and she switched off the night vision.

"Nova, light us up!" A bright flash of light filled the warehouse and Piper dropped to the floor as a hoarse cry sounded from the figure in front of her. He was thinner than he had been, his hair longer, more straggily. His skin was grey and a few spots of it were covered in burn scars. One of his arm's was pulling off a pair of nightvision goggles he'd been wearing, the other held a briefcase. Piper snapped out a web and snagged the briefcase from the still swearing figure. Doctor Otto Octavius snarled at her, blinking rapidly.

"Gotta be careful about night vision, wear it in the wrong lighting and you're likely to hurt your eyesight permanently." Octavius snarled at her and lunged for the briefcase. She tossed it up to Nova.

"Keep away!" She shouted as somewhere behind her she heard Danny and Luke stirring. Octavius roared and smacked out at Nova.

Flash Thompson liked to walk at night. He knew it probably wasn't the best idea, New York was far from a safe place. But it was better than being at home. Anything was better than waiting for his mom to come home, never sure if she would. Listening to his dad shatter bottles of beer against the broken down cars that surrounded the old broken down gas station that was the only thing his father owned. It had been converted into something that could pass for a home. But it had never really felt like it. So instead of going home he walked.

Tonight his feet had taken him down to the Hudson. It was almost pretty in the sunset, if you could ignore the smell. The harbor area never really smelled good, except in winter when the crisp smell of snow covered everything. But as the lights glittered over the Hudson he remembered why he loved this city. It had a beauty all its own. He smiled slightly as he stuffed his hands back in his letterman jacket. He flinched at the sound of shattering glass nearby. Curiosity always got him in trouble but it never seemed to stop him being curious. He stepped around the corner and blinked at the warehouse in front of him. It didn't look very different to those around it, but the lights from the windows and sounds of crashing from within spoke of a fight. One of the windows was broken. He had barely stepped forwards when another window was broken, this time by a figure clad in familiar red and blue, who seemed to be wrapped around something. She crashed into the pavement with a groan and lay still. Flash's mind went a mile a minute but her team didn't appear and whatever had thrown her through the window was getting closer.

He swore as he raced forwards, glass crunching under his sneakers. He pulled her up as she groaned, she didn't seem to be fully conscious. He caught the briefcase in his other hand as he dragged the unconchius hero into a dark alley. They had just slipped out of sight when a section of the wall of the warehouse fell in a plume of dust. The figure who stepped out was too tall, supported on long metal legs, gaunt and grey like a ghost he moved forwards.

"Come out little spider! Coward!" He roared as a blast of light struck him from inside the warehouse. Flash wanted nothing more than to punch this guy in the face. Spidey wasn't a coward, she was the best hero New York had. But as she stirred in his arms he knew that doing that was a very bad idea at least while Spidey was hurt.

Piper had not been expecting a flash grenade from Doc Oc. Apparently he'd upgraded. Her senses were on overload as she went crashing out of the warehouse. Her ears were ringing and she couldn't see or hear anything. Every part of her was screaming. She was vaguely aware of something pulling her off the cold pavement. It took a few minutes but she managed to blink her vision back into a somewhat clear blur. She was very confused about what she saw when she managed to see again.

"That cant be right." Flash jumped slightly as Spidey managed to stand up on her own. She rubbed her head where he guessed her ears were. The white lenses of her mask stared at him and he blushed slightly. He held out the briefcase as four other figures approached the alley. She took it still staring at him. Flash jumped again as Nova spoke.

"Nice going Bug Breath, the Doc got away." Spidey nodded.

"Yeah I kinda figured. But thanks to this… guy, he didn't get what he was after. What's your name kid?" Flash blushed bright red to be addressed by his hero.

"Flash." It was like he could hear her eyebrow climb up her forehead. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well Eugene but everybody calls me Flash." Nova snorted as White Tiger, Iron Fist and Powerman stepped back into the partially destroyed warehouse. Spidergirl sent a look at Nova who seemed to roll his eyes then shrugged and soared back to the warehouse. Spidergirl turned back to Flash.

"Why did you do that?" Flash stared at her for a minute trying to figure out what she meant.

"Help you? Why did I help you?" She nodded. He snorted. "I mean you've done so much for this city, you've saved so many people. My girl Liz was there when that whole Taskmaster thing happened. She would have been in real trouble without you." He chuckled a bit nervously.

"Sorry I'm not normally like this, I just you're the coolest. I'm your biggest fan." Spidey nodded.

"Well thanks." She made to webswing away when Flash called out to her.

"Um… Can I ask a favor?" There it was Piper thought, that was somewhat closer to the Flash she knew, never one to turn down opportunity. He continued before she could object. "Can I get a picture?" He asked almost shyly pulling out his phone. She almost snorted. The last thing she'd ever expected to hear directed at her was Flash Thompson asking to be in a picture with her. She paused. He had just saved her life.

"One, and I don't wanna see it all over Facebook, not a lot of people know I run this far into Manhattan, and I'd like to keep it that way." Flash nodded quickly, beaming at her. If she hadn't known him so well she'd say he was sincere, but somehow she couldn't equate that with the boy who'd been shoving her into lockers for the past three years. But she stood next to him and let him beam at the camera, even allowing herself a small smile under her mask as he took the picture. Then she turned back to the warehouse.

"You should probably get home kid, place is gonna be crawling with Damage Control soon. Don't wanna get caught up in that mess." He waved after her as she swung off to the warehouse.

Flash made his was onto the subway a grin still plastered on his face, nothing at home could ruin the high he was running on right now. He'd stopped by a friends house and printed the picture, he wished he could have gotten her to sign it. Kobie had been beyond jealous that he'd gotten that close to the hero, that he'd actually been able to touch her but Flash was just happy he had been able to talk to her. She really was the coolest, he thought as he pinned the picture to his wall as his father snored in the other room, a half empty bottle of Jack in danger of falling out of his hand.