I have finally hopped on the Spider-Man bandwagon. Do not presume this is a result of the new movie because I haven't seen it yet. I'm just making this because I saw a few new fics, looked at one too many fanart pieces and felt compelled to make something.
Anyways, join AizenTheGoat's discord server. It's always active, there are as many helpful people as there are trolls and it's got lots of skilled writers like Helghy, Skairipa, Jack227 and others on it. If you want ideas for a story, Bigtrunk got your back. If you want a beta reader, want motivation or just want to chat with writers, readers and everything in between, feel free to join.
The code's: tSbwfuAN
PS: I take commissions now, check my bio to know more.
"Bad luck, till the bitter end! Bad luck, social injuring! Can't judge…"
Guitar augmented screams invaded the once quiet room, the loud noise easily burying the heavy sigh that escaped from under a weighted blanket. A hand slid out from beneath the bed to pat the bedside table, feeling for the source of the noise until it landed on a vibrating phone.
A finger slid across the screen, abruptly cutting off the music and the hand went limp as its owner was lulled back to sleep by the blissful silence that fell on the room once more. The distant noise of cars and bustle in the city that never slept did nothing to disturb the person who did.
Five minutes later, the music returned with a vengeance.
A long groan could be heard as the blankets got kicked off the bed, revealing a blond male with his eyes still closed. He sat up and picked up the phone again, only opening his eyes enough to unlock the device and disable all the alarms. When that was done, he stared at the screen blankly as he contemplated the choices he'd made in life that led to him getting five alarms ready.
A ping alerted him to a new message: Lab at 10, Naruto. Sent you a screenshot of the readings we acquired in the last class.-Peter Parker
Naruto shook his head and quickly typed a reply: Do you even sleep?
A few seconds later, another message came in: I don't oversleep.
I hate you. See you in class. Say hi to Aunt May for me.
He didn't wait for what would be the boy's response. Instead, he got off the bed just as said woman barged into the room, an act that made him glare at her. "Would it kill you to knock? I might have been naked!"
"Nothing I haven't seen before," Tsunade Senju replied. "I thought I told you to change that alarm, you little shit; I'm sick of hearing that Godzilla guy every time it's six in the morning."
"That's just 'cause it worsens your hangover, granny," he sneered. "Maybe if you didn't get wasted every Sunday night, you wouldn't have anything to worry about."
"I told you to stop calling me that." She growled. "Why can't you be more like that friend of yours? He's skinny as a twig and couldn't stop staring at my chest, but at least he was respectful."
"Maybe if you didn't run around flaunting those balloons, people wouldn't look at them so much," Naruto fired back.
She glared at him. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"
"I was getting to that," He grumbled as he ambled towards the bathroom. "God, I hate Mondays."
"That makes two of us," Tsunade agreed. "You want a ride to school?"
"So you can drive us into a ditch?" He snorted as he squeezed toothpaste onto his brush.
Tsunade groaned. "I'll have you know I'm a good driver. I-"
"-drove my dad to the prom where he met my mom so I technically exist because of you, yes, you say it all the time." He rolled his eyes.
"It's Kushina's genes, I say." Tsunade shook her head. "She's always been the rude one."
"More like she wasn't too scared of you to work up the nerve to say anything." He rinsed his mouth and turned to look back at the woman. "Just like I'm not scared to tell you to leave my room so I can take a shower."
"Please, I washed you till you were seven. There's nothing there that I haven't seen already."
"When I was seven, yeah, but it's different now. And you're delaying me. You know, most parents rush their kids to school."
"It's a good thing I'm not your parent." She grinned.
"But you're my-ugh, nevermind." Naruto rolled his eyes and closed the bathroom door. It was too early to deal with her.
"When was the last time you washed these shoes? I'm pretty sure the soles are supposed to be white. Nevermind, I'm throwing them out."
On second thought, maybe it wasn't too early.
A shower and another argument with Tsunade later, Naruto was riding through the morning traffic. It was still over a dozen minutes till rush hour but the roads had gotten so congested, he was forced to weave through honking cars and cyclists as he made his way towards school.
The aroma of fast food that made his stomach grumble was polluted by the smoke coming out of two damaged cars over which their owners were arguing. He had to admit, they were creative with the curse words and slurs they threw at each other, but their standoff wouldn't last. They'd either end up ending it or the police would do it for them.
He took a left turn away from a road that was still undergoing repairs. A quick glance back showed him a few badly damaged buildings. He wasn't sure what exactly happened, but didn't think too much of it.
He hummed to himself as he entered a part of the city where the buildings got progressively taller as he went further. He passed by a group of men dancing to a song blaring out of a speaker beside them. A snigger escaped him when he saw a few of them pointing guns at the cameraman.
He glanced at his watch as a cafe quickly got closer. 8:26. Peter wouldn't let him hear the end of it now.
He brought his scooter to a halt in front of the cafe and a few seconds later, a thin, brown haired boy exited with a scowl on his face.
He waved at the male. "Not a Monday person either, are you, Peter?"
"Seriously, Naruto? You're late. Again." Peter grumbled. "You were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago."
Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I got held up. Granny didn't want me to leave without helping her with her tea and all that. You've got an aunt too, you know what it's like."
"I don't think I want to," Peter shook his hea_ and handed him a paper bag that was still warm to the touch. "I got you something."
Naruto smiled gratefully. "You know you didn't have to, right?"
Peter shrugged. "It doesn't feel right making you take a detour to come get me everyday without doing anything to pay you back, you know?"
Naruto wanted to snort. He'd been the one to convince him to stop taking public transport after finding out he was getting around with his meager salary from selling pictures.
"Just this once, alright?" He opened the bag to glance at its contents. "A large coffee. Black too. I feel like this is your way of taking a jab at me." He placed the cup on the floor of the bike and gingerly kept it in place with his feet.
"I don't know what you mean." Peter lied as he sat behind him. "Let's go, we've got to beat the bell."
"Sure you don't," Naruto muttered and started the bike again. As much as he'd have loved to drag the matter, Peter was right. They did need to beat the bell.
They did not beat the bell.
Naruto was turning off his scooter in the school's parking lot when a high pitched ringing reached his ears, making him groan. Beside him, Peter did the same.
He ignored the blaming look he knew Peter was sending him in favour of trudging towards the entrance, already prepared to meet whatever prefect had decided to take it on themselves to mete out punishment to latecomers.
The two got to the door only to see a redheaded girl with bright green eyes leaning against the wall with a grin. She idly twirled a bunch of keys on a finger as they approached her. "The knight and his humble squire finally show up in their trusty two wheeled steed."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Which is which?"
"The one that's the one." Her grin widened. "Finally brought my boyfriend to school, did you, Uzumaki? For a while, I thought you were still asleep or something."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Not if it means leaving Peter here stranded. Who knows what kind of things can happen to him?" Mary Jane Watson approached said male to kiss his cheek. "He kept you waiting again, didn't he, Tiger?"
"Don't be so hard on him. He's a narcoleptic." Peter joked. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, MJ, but where's the perfect?"
"Yeah, I thought we'd be getting lectured about the importance of punctuality by now." Naruto agreed.
"I keep the door open for you and you're more curious about why you're not getting punished." Mary sighed exaggeratedly. "It sucks being a good person sometimes."
"What? How?" Peter squinted. "What did you do?"
Mary pointed back with a thumb. "I stole the keys."
"MJ!" Peter's cry had a scandalized tone to it.
"Theft of school property? I should call the cops on you." Naruto chided her mockingly.
"I'm shaking in my boots." Mary didn't try hiding her sarcasm. "Take them off and see."
"I have a feeling I don't want to smell what's under them. Who knows where the pursuit of truth led you to?"
Mary laughed lightly at that. "Not the smelly places, at least not yet."
"You might as well just become a PI or something."
"And spend my days trying to find out how many women some married dude's seeing? I'll pass. Besides, there's juicier stuff in the journalist gig."
Naruto hummed. "Oh yeah? Like what?"
Mary smirked. "For one, The Devil of Hell's Kitchen is real."
Peter blinked as did Naruto. "Wait, really?"
"Yeah, someone got a picture of him but it's blurry as hell. Really weird, I'm telling you."
"This is what, like the third vigilante this month?" Peter asked. "Aliens and guys in costumes. What's happening?"
Naruto nodded in agreement. There had been a sudden boom in the number of superpowered vigilantes who had now been tagged superheroes since the previous year. It had started with Iron Man's appearance a few years ago, then Captain America himself was discovered and thawed out of the ice from which he'd been encased for decades followed by the Fantastic Four coming back from space with superpowers.
And they weren't the only ones.
There were rumors of a man in Harlem who bullets couldn't pierce, some people claimed they saw a man dressed in all black or red beating up criminals with his bare fists or billy clubs in Hell's Kitchen, there was footage of a naked woman controlling the weather in Africa and a guy in Germany once swore he saw a blue boy vanish in a puff of smoke that smelled like brimstone.
"I wish I knew, things are changing though, that's for sure." Naruto said.
They spent the next few seconds in silence before Naruto spoke again. "Hey, what about the picture?"
"Oh yeah, let me show you." Mary Jane patted her pockets before letting out a sigh. "Ah drat, I left it in the computer lab."
Peter spoke up again. "Hey, speaking of labs, don't we have a lab class in less than an hour, Naruto?"
"Relax, Tiger. We've still got lots of time. Live a little." Mary assured him.
"Oh, he's definitely living. He's even taking risks now." Naruto raised the paper bag. "He bought me black coffee this morning. Tell me a better way to implicitly call me a narcoleptic."
"Chronic latecomer's more of the term I'd use to describe you." Mary said.
"And to think that once upon a time, he was afraid to tell me I had a shoelace untied." Naruto took a sip of the coffee and shuddered. "I should smack you in the head for getting me this, man. This is even worse than Granny's hangover cure."
Peter gulped. The blond wasn't what anyone would call huge, but Flash Thompson's crooked nose could testify that he still packed a nasty punch.
Mary slung a shoulder over Peter's shoulder. "Aren't you happy that underneath the Chuck Taylor's and City Morgue shirt is the heart of a doll?"
"Dolls don't have hearts." Peter deadpanned.
"But they're soft and cute."
"No they're not." Naruto disagreed. Their small, black, empty eyes that reflected his image back to him unnerved him too much for him to pay attention to anything else about them.
"Agree to disagree," Mary said.
Naruto shrugged. "Fine by me."
"Cool, can we go in now?" Peter asked.
"The rhyming was cool till you killed it." Naruto shook his head.
"Yeah, shame on you, Pete." Mary booed him playfully.
Peter deflated. "Shouldn't you be on my side? You're my girlfriend?"
"Doesn't mean I won't tell you when you're messing up, tiger." Mary Jane smiled at him. "Aww, don't give me that look, I'll make it up to you."
Naruto raised an eyebrow when he saw Peter's face light up. "Before you two decide to show each other the fifty shades of gray, I'd like to remind you that I'm still here."
Mary Jane stuck her tongue out at him. "He's right though, I better get back to the computer lab before someone decides they need an extra phone." She handed Peter the keys. "Later guys."
Naruto waved at the redhead and the two watched her hips sway from side to side as she walked away. "I'm not sure if anyone's told you this before, but you struck the jackpot with her."
Peter sighed. "More than you know, man. I still wonder what she sees in me."
Naruto snorted and lightly hit his friend's shoulder. "You're a good guy, Peter. The kind that a girl would want to settle down with and even though she doesn't really look like it, so is MJ. You two deserve each other and don't think for a second that you don't."
Peter nodded slowly. "Thanks, Naruto."
"Don't mention it." Naruto looked at his watch again. "And now, we're late."
Peter glared at him halfheartedly before his shoulders slumped even further down. "At this point, I don't even care anymore."
"That's the spirit." Naruto snapped his fingers. "Onward, my humble squire."
Peter made a choked noise, but entered the building before locking the door behind him. He turned away from the door just in time to see a red faced prefect stomping towards them, his nose flaring with each step.
Naruto blew air out of his nose. "She said she stole the keys."
Peter hissed. "She did."
"And it's in your hand right now."
"Yeah."
"We're in trouble, aren't we?"
"Probably."
" Wunderbar." Naruto nodded and opened the coffee cup again. "Might as well finish this."
Ten minutes later, Naruto, now wearing a white lab coat and latex gloves, walked into the laboratory. He ignored his staring classmates in favour of quickly pulling up his goggles so they shielded his eyes and letting his bag drop on the floor beneath the marker board and turning to look at the instructor. "Sorry I'm late, Mr. Harrington."
"At least you're not giving an excuse this time." The instructor, a brown haired man of middle age, said amusedly.
Naruto smiled bashfully. "Well, I was going to give one, but I forgot what it was meant to be."
"If you put as much effort into arriving early as you do into formulating excuses, you'd have a shiny punctuality badge pinned to your breast pocket."
"I heard those pins actually pierce the skin. Can you imagine how bad it'd hurt to walk around all day with that? Besides, it would suck if I showed up early only to have to leave school to get a tetanus shot, wouldn't it?"
Mr. Harrington rolled his eyes as the others chuckled. "I'm sure it would. Go find a seat, we're doing qualitative analysis today."
Naruto blinked. "What? I thought we were only getting our readings graded. You know, because of the trip to Oscorp?"
"At first, yes." Mr. Harrington sighed. "Oscorp sent a notice that they wouldn't be able to receive any visitors on account of an accident involving a biochemical accident."
"That's unfortunate."
"It really is," Mr. Harrington nodded. "I was hoping for a day where I'd be able to relax in school while another teacher handled you guys, but here we are."
Naruto gave the man a flat stare. "You know, most teachers say that behind their students' backs."
"You're delaying us at this point, Uzumaki, go take a seat." Mr. Harrington continued. " Oh that's right, I signed Parker into the last vacant spot meaning all the groups are now filled up so you'll have to work on your own today."
"It smells like nepotism in here." Naruto grumbled just as Peter walked into the room.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Mr. Harrington smiled. "You're right on time, Parker. Go take a seat, we've been waiting for you."
Naruto mimicked the man's words under his breath as he walked to the last row.
"The man really has it out for you, doesn't he?" Mary Jane giggled as she wiggled her fingers against Peter's.
"What?" Naruto looked away from the vending machine he was smoothening a banknote on to look at her. "No he's an alright guy, he just likes to mess with a different person each day. The only one who gets off free all the time is our teacher's pet here."
"Hmm? Am I really dating a teacher's pet, Tiger?" She smirked at Peter who flushed and fiddled with his glasses.
"You are." Naruto sighed as the vending machine spat out his note. "Either of you got change for a ten?
"N-no, I just don't disrupt class, I get good grades and I help him out from time to time."
" That's teacher's pet behavior." MJ chuckled.
"I'll just take that as a no." The blond got back to smoothening the note. After a minute, he carefully slid the banknote into it's in-"
"That's what she said." Someone randomly said. Their associates laughed as they passed by.
Naruto scowled, but didn't look away from the machine. "I still can't believe they got rid of those spicy chips. What kind of monsters do we have in this school?"
"It doesn't exactly speak well for it's popularity when only one guy buys the stuff" Mary Jane said. "I still don't even know what you see in it."
"It was perfection in a sachet. An explosion of flavour in your mouth. Salt, pepper, flavouring spices with the subtle hint of seafood and when washed down with a cola? Bliss." Naruto's finger moved from button to button as he picked out snacks. "What do you guys want?"
"I'm good." Peter said with Mary nodding her agreement .
"I already got what I wanted but I still have two dollars of change left and the machine won't give me my stuff till I've spent it all." Naruto explained.
"Well…I'll take the shortbread cookies." Mary pointed at said snack.
Naruto grimaced. "Diabetes in a wrapper."
Mary grinned. "It's that sugar that helps me keep this figure."
"I'm pretty sure it's not, but okay." He pushed the machine a little to let his snack drop. "So what happens now that we're not going to Oscorp anymore?"
Peter and MJ looked at each other before the former spoke. "Well, we were planning on going to the movies from here."
"You want to come with?" Mary Jane asked.
It sounded like an invite, but he could tell she was only asking out of courtesy. Not that she needed to bother, he had other plans anyway. "No, I'm good. Now that the Oscorp plan's shot, I'm just going to head to the Stark Expo. What do you think the snacks are for? They don't serve refreshments there."
"They are a lot." Mary Jane said. With eight of the same kind of chips, he looked more like he was preparing for a sleepover with a picky eater than going to a tech event.
"It's today?!" Peter's eyes shone.
MJ squeezed his hand. "Easy there, Tiger. You've got a date, remember?"
"Yeah, I'll just send you a video or something." Naruto nodded.
"And you're not going to use that ' my phone died' excuse you use everytime I ask you to send me something?" Peter stuck a finger out at him.
"Cross my heart and hope to die." Naruto smiled innocently.
"What are you, twelve?"
"So we happy now?" Mary Jane spoke again.
Peter spent the next few seconds looking between her and a still smiling Naruto. "Yeah…I guess so."
"Then it's settled. Come on, Tiger. Later, Naruto." She pulled Peter away.
"Have fun, you two." He waved at them. As he watched them go, he felt a twinge of envy in his gut.
He was happy for Peter. MJ was one of the best things he'd seen happy to the boy, but at the same time, he didn't find it all that fair that his friend hadn't even needed to try before MJ made her move on him while he'd been putting himself out, but got nothing more than either people looking to fool around for a month or two.
He sighed heavily and fished out one of the chips. He had an expo to attend.
"Hey, I'll take that off your hands, thanks."
"Wait wha-hey!" Naruto's head swiveled around as his third bag of chips for the day was snatched away.
He pushed people away made for the quickly retreating culprit but before his hand could land on the man's shoulder, it got snatched by a much larger one before a pair of hands roughly shoved him to the side.
"Back off." One said.
He glared at the two men but his harsh look dissolved into thin air when he saw that they were both easily twice his size.
Being nervous was a weird thing. It made some people stutter, it made some people choke up and for people like him, it loosened lips. "Jesus, you guys, easy on the juice. Are you allergic to being natty or something? What the hell? I can see your muscles coming out of the suit. We're in pollen season, man. One sneeze and you're buck naked out here."
It really loosened lips.
"Walk away." The one who'd pushed him said.
He raised his hands. "I'm going, man. Just be careful though. There's kids here and I'm sure the last thing they want is to see The Thing's ding-a-ling."
He had a feeling he'd offended them both cause they both glared at him. Thankfully, neither decided to defend themselves via their fists, but as they walked away, the last one pushed him again, sending him into the gathered crowd that pushed him back out.
He smoothened his clothes with an annoyed huff. First, his food got stolen and now, he got ragdolled by a pair of meatheads. He walked back into the crowd, thinking about what had just happened. Their size aside, the suits and earpieces they had on hadn't escaped his notice and it hadn't been difficult to deduce that they were bodyguards.
But who were they protecting?
A loud cheer made him direct his attention to the stage and his jaw slackened.
Amidst the bright lights, smoke and loud music that lit up the night, a handsome man in his thirties with neatly groomed hair and a well ironed suit walked onto the stage with a bag of chips in his hand.
A bag of his chips.
"Tony Stark stole my chips." Naruto muttered disbelievingly. "Peter's never going to believe this."
Oh crap, Peter. He'd almost forgotten to record the event. He quickly took out his phone and switched to the camera just as the music ended. He hit record, raised the device above his head and prayed nobody snatched it like the chips.
Everyone spent the next minute watching Tony empty the bag in silence. Halfway through the sight, Naruto began to ask himself if the man even had anything planned because it looked like he was just eating to buy time to think of something.
Eventually, Tony finished the chips, crumpled the bag and tossed it into a nearby bin with a muttered 'Kobe'. After that, he wiped his hands on his suit. "That's some good chips right there. I took it off some guy on the way here, thanks blondie."
Naruto sighed.
Tony squinted at the crowd. "Woah, am I at the wrong place? The way you guys are packed together, it kind of looks like you're trying to mosh or something. This isn't Astroworld, spread out, spread out."
Even Naruto couldn't help his amused snort as he backed up to make space for the person in front of him. The man might have shown up late and made them all watch him eat chips, but he had to admit, he had a kind of charm that made it hard to stay annoyed with him.
"That's better." Tony unwrapped a piece of gum and stuck it in his mouth. "Okay, let's get into it."
Tony clapped his hands and the screen behind him came on, showing the Stark Enterprises logo. "So, an expo. A short word for expose. Reveal. Let out. Flash."
"Oh my God." Naruto shook his head. He should have just gone home, the man was obviously just trying to stall for something.
"I'm sure you're all familiar with stuff like this. Comic-con, E3…oh, it got canceled? Alright." Tony shrugged. "Well, I'm sure you know all about the formalities now, so I'll just show you the first thing. Introducing…"
Barely two minutes after Tony Stark showcased the first item and began to speak, a loud bang rang out, followed by a high pitched shriek and Naruto's eyes widened when a bright blue ball of what looked like lightning struck the stage, sending Tony Stark flying and causing the lights of the stage to cut out.
A faint sound like a rocket's exhaust above his head made him look up to see a man in a green suit of armor with a purple helmet, purple armour pads covering his vitals and what looked like beetle wings spread out on his back. The man pointed at the stage again and another ball was fired at the stage.
"Alright everyone," the man began. "Take out your phones and your wallets and nobody gets hurt!"
The dumbstruck crowd continued to stare at him.
The man growled. "You have ten seconds before I start shooting people!"
"Ladies and gentlemen," a voice started. " This is a party crasher."
The man's wings swayed as he turned to look around. "What the hell? Who's there?!" He fired at the speakers, short-circuiting them as well.
Naruto shuddered as a whoosh, similar to one coming from the man, rapidly got closer and louder. The armored man must have heard it as well because he froze. "Oh, cra-"
He was cut short as another man clad in a red and gold armor of sleeker design flew into him from behind and sent him flying a good dozen meters higher into the air.
"And this," the voice spoke again. "Is a party crasher crusher!"
"Holy shit, it's Iron Man!" Someone shrieked and Naruto was forced to pocket his phone as people began to cheer and applaud the man. He wasn't really as shocked as most of the others, but even he felt a little starstruck from seeing a real superhero in person.
Iron Man was larger than he looked in pictures and seeing him in action was a sight in itself. He lightly bobbed in the air as small flaps near the thrusters on his boots opened and closed, the air around them shimmering from the sheer heat being ejected, gears constantly turned beneath the plates and as was what made him easily recognisable, the circle on his chest glowed bright and blue.
Okay, so maybe he was more than a little starstruck.
"I knew you'd show your face here, Beetle." Iron Man began, his voice deep and distorted in a way that made Naruto wonder if there was actually a man beneath all the metal. "In fact, I've been expecting you."
"Oh yeah?" Beetle tried to sound confident, but his voice was tight with pain. "Unless you were using your employer, Stark, as bait, I say I caught you unawares."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Iron Man said. "Eitherway, you have something of mine. I want it back."
He wasn't speaking to him, but the menacing undertone of his words made Naruto feel like he was in danger.
Beetle snorted. "Don't know what you're talking about, tin man. Even if I did, you're not getting it back. Now fuck off before things get ugly."
Iron Man stayed quiet for a moment before speaking again. "I wasn't expecting you to know anyway."
He rushed at the criminal again with a speed that made the wind blow Naruto's hair. The blond watched with wide eyes as the two fought in the air, steadily getting higher until they were easily twelve stories above his head. The people's cheers didn't affect him as much as they would any other time. All his attention was on the two men locked in battle.
He'd seen footage of superheroes fighting. Most of them were five to six seconds long at most before the person recording had to flee before they got caught up in the conflict, but all of them, no matter how much of a sight they seemed to be, matched up to seeing it happen in real time.
He saw everything, he saw Iron Man's gauntlets glow as repulsor beams superheated the air in their way. He saw his feet move as he constantly steadied himself in the air, maintaining his balance with an ease nothing but practice could give a person.
He heard everything. He heard the metallic clang each time Iron Man's fist impacted Beetle's armour and the sounds of Beetle kicking the man away to create distance between them. He heard the sound of cutting metal as Iron Man used a repulsor beam as a pressure cutter, the compressed energy slicing through Beetle's wing like cheesecloth, destabilizing the criminal.
It was dangerous, being that high up. A malfunction in either one's machinery would lead to them falling and armour or not, they would die. But even as the voice of reason screamed that in his head, the greater part of him wanted to be in their place or specifically, Iron Man's place.
He wanted to be like the man, like the other superheroes, fighting criminals and constantly treading the line between life and death for the sake of the greater good. Call it the result of being the child of an adrenaline junkie who got raised by a doctor, but it was who he was.
"Let's see how well you fight when you're trying to save these people!" Beetle screamed and from his wrist mounted blaster, a beam of concentrated energy sliced through the nearby buildings, causing the debris to fall down towards the crowd.
His intention was clear. He was making Iron Man choose between saving them and beating him, but nobody was sticking around to find out what Iron Man would choose.
Naruto grunted as he pushed through the panicking crowd while still trying not to let himself fall. He looked back to see Iron Man picking and throwing away the falling debris he could reach as fast as he could. The Beetle was nowhere to be found.
As he reached the entrance, he froze and shrieked as a blinding pain erupted in his leg. The moment of shock was more than enough for someone to elbow their way past him, nailing him in the nose. Others did the same thing, forcing their way past him until he eventually found himself knocked onto the ground. He grunted when someone stepped on his chest, their foot pressing into his ribs and another stomped on his belly.
Nevermind the debris, if he didn't move back, he'd be stampeded to death anyway. He bit his tongue to keep from screaming as more people stepped on him even while he crawled away. The pain in his leg hadn't subsided. It only got worse.
By the time he was able to leave the crowd, his leg had almost gone numb and he could swear he felt something moving. He finally looked down and his heart momentarily stopped.
A spider easily the size of his clenched fist had bitten down on his leg and its mandibles still moved as though it were trying to chew the flesh. Unable to find the strength to try to get it off, he was forced to watch its mandibles dig deeper into his leg. He couldn't feel the limb anymore. It was probably venom.
He was going to die. And it wasn't because of some supervillain or a panicked crowd, he was going to die because some arachnid decided his leg looked tastier than everyone else's. Shit, how was granny going to feel?
"Hey! Naruto!"
He jolted as someone rushed towards him and slowly turned his head to the side to see blond hair and a crooked nose. "Flash…"
Flash Thompson grabbed him by the arm. "What the hell are you doing?! We've gotta get out of here!"
"My leg…look." Naruto looked down at his leg again and his eyes widened. The spider was gone and the part where it had been gnawing on looked as healthy as it had been in the morning.
Flash frowned. "Your leg looks fine, man. But shit, it might be broken, I don't know. Here."
He slung the other blond's arm over his shoulder and lifted him up.
"Thank you," Naruto whispered. His vision was getting blurry and the noise around him was beginning to fade. Shit, he really was going to die.
"Hey, don't pass out now, man. Dude, we've got… out…re…to ?! Na..o! N…"
Fuck.
-The third bag of the day was snatched away! Can your favorite rapper everrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Eminem dey find me, Kendrick Lamar dey jealous me! Nas dey beg make e sign me! Dey play! Dey play! Dey playyyyyy!