Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Spectacular Characters, Marvel Characters, or any of the Disney properties… I just do this for fun :)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
On that bright Monday afternoon, the state of Florida looked gorgeous… on the plane. The beaches had clean white sand; the emerald blue oceans, and the towers, although scarce in the area, were sleek white. Once the high school seniors landed, their bus drove them through the gorgeous neighborhoods and fancy hotels of Orlando. They were in awe of it.
However expectations met reality and it's often disappointing… when they're placed in a cheaper, less desirable motel.
Sally Avril groaned, "Are you kidding me–A MOTEL–Really?!"
Their teacher explained, "Sorry… But this is the best place that the school could afford… since DisneyWorld was already really expensive for the school."
"Couldn't Osborn pay for a better motel?!"
"No Sally. We do not take student donations, no matter the size"
"Ugh…"
Moving past the many students complaining like Sally, was Peter, offering a helping hand to Harry.
"Jeez Har, your luggage is heavy!" Peter commented.
He was already juggling his own luggage, and Liz's, so having to handle Harry's was an insane task.
"My mom told me to pack a lot, just in case for emergencies"
"You think you went a bit overboard?"
Harry patted him on the back, "Probably—but hey, this could be a good workout for you. Calisthenics, right?"
'Pshhht… like I need it!'
A few minutes later, after Peter dropped off Harry's luggage in his designated room, he gave his Aunt May a quick call, assuring that arrived safely. Not long after the call ended, he spotted a friendly face stroll his direction.
Peter brightly waved, "Hey, Gwen!"
She looked up at him, "Pete… hey-"
"Your dad actually let you go on this trip?"
"He thinks I need a break from mulling through all my acceptance letters–he's not wrong"
"Jeez. How many?"
"Around like 15?"
"15?! Sounds like plenty of options for college!"
"So much to wrap my head around Pete… it's actually baffling"
"You've decided yet?"
"There's so many good options, so I'm in a bind"
"That's a great problem to have"
"Um… so, what about you?"
"You know… just Empire State"
"Still? Even if the Connors aren't there? You're gonna be stuck with Miles Warren…"
"Yeah. It's still a great school, and close to my house"
"I guess," she uttered. "You know, we could visit the Connors. Mrs. Connors actually invited me over, so me and Mary Jane are gonna stay there for the meantime… you should come too! They don't live too far from Orlando," Gwen proposed.
"Ah, I forgot they moved to Florida. Sadly I don't know if I have the time though. Liz wants to go on the beach later, and… DisneyWorld… probably tomorrow. But hey, we'll figure something out later in the week"
"Yeah… we'll figure something out…"
"Sounds great–Ah I found our room—I gotta get going and unpack. See ya in a bit!"
"Oh-oh yeah, go ahead. See ya out there, Pete!"
LOOKING UP WITH NO SURPRISE - DAYTONA BEACH, ORLANDO
A couple of hours later, after a chaotic mess of gathering all these students, and putting them into buses, they finally arrived in one piece at the beautiful beach.
"Now this is more like it, Rand… Gotta send Sha Shan a picture… she's gonna love it," Flash commented once they stepped foot on the sand. He was extremely excited since it's been a while since he's gone to a place like this. But football had his focus for the longest time, it's refreshing to just feel like a hyper kid.
Rand nudged, "C'mon Romeo, quit texting your girlfriend… she's probably in class anyway."
"You know what, you're right man, let's get it!"
Passing through the crowds, Liz, Peter and Sally walked side to side, till the girls knew they wanted their girl-time.
Liz gazed at him with a smile, "Petey, I'm gonna go on a walk with Sally."
"Yeah, go ahead. Meet up for lunch?"
"Well… the teachers all want us in one spot for lunch"
"Oh, nice… where is it?"
"I'll text you, don't worry about it"
"Alright, have fun! Say hi to the dolphins for me!" He quickly pecked her on the cheek.
Liz waved to him with a beaming smile, which Sally took notice of. Sally confessed, "Hate to admit it Liz… but y'all are making me jealous!"
"Really, Sal?"
"Yeah—Just don't tell King Geek over there!"
She linked arms with her best friend as they strolled on around the beach.
This huge smile grew on the head cheerleader's face, finally getting approval from her blonde best friend. Sure, she never needed the validation to be with her Petey… but it felt nice.
Liz mouthed with this earnest look on her face, "Thank you."
Meanwhile, Peter felt absolutely lost. For a beach, there were so many moving parts, like a roller coaster ride, and carnival games… it was—actually not that different from New York's Coney Island. 'Huh, I guess it's just the large crowds'
His old pal tapped his shoulder, "Hey Pete! You seriously looked so lost dude!"
"Cuz I am," Peter nervously chuckled. "So, you gonna go on that ride?" he asked.
They overheard people screaming from the top of their lungs, sending chills down their spines.
"Don't know—you know Pete, heights aren't my thing"
"You handled yourself on the Cyclone"
"Handled myself? Pete, I swallowed my throw up during the ride"
"You did? That's why you weren't screaming for the rest of the ride… jeez, that's gross"
"Not my brightest moment, Pete–"
Suddenly that brief calmness, dissipated. Every word Harry said, or could've said, became muddled. Peter's Spider-senses took over. The hair on his forearm rose tall. His head felt like it was spinning. His eyes darted around his surroundings, to the nearby rollercoaster, or the families walking past them… or to a tree.
'What could be the threat?'
Then his mind went back to the screams coming from the rollercoaster.
At first, nothing out of the usual. Till the screams went from screams of adrenaline… to screams of terror.
'There it is!'
His eyes glimpsed underneath at his normal-looking shirt, and spotted his worn-out Spidey suit. Thank god he had it on, sometimes he forgot he had it on, being a sort of second skin. Thankfully, his mask was in his pocket. So without a single thought, he babbled to Harry, "Hey Har, I gotta go to the restroom, okay."
"Do you even know where it is?"
"Doesn't seem too hard. Don't worry, I'll just meet you back here"
"Alright dude, just don't get lost! Call me if you do!"
Peter quickly nodded, and right as he turned around, he darted for it. He instantly hopped behind some bushes and made sure nobody saw him, while he changed.
'On vacation, and still don't get a break… perks of being a wall-crawler, I guess'
He could waste not one second, as those passengers on the ride were losing it.
The frantic passengers shrieked with tears in their eyes. "HELP! HELP! HELP!"
Five carts hung off the tracks, tremendously far off the ground. With one tiny movement, the whole thing could come crashing down, with all those passengers on it. Emergency professionals were barely arriving, so the only person to help was-
"Your Florida neighborhood Spider-Man… is here-"
'That doesn't roll off the tongue that well–let's stick to New York'
With one subtle movement, it startled everyone. Their hearts pumped real hard, nearly bursting out of their chest.
'OH SH–Careful Spidey!'
"Everyone relax a bit…"
He quickly webbed up the carts to the track, so they were a tad more secure. Spider-Man had to think on his feet.
Got it–a web trampoline! It can hold many people. He just had to get everyone out so they could land there. So he quickly went to work, thwiping out so many webs, and creating such a thick coat, it could hold a truck. Yet, the hardest task was to make sure they could stay calm.
"Alright, one at a time, you gotta jump onto THAT!"
"Jump? Are you insane, Spidey?!"
Spidey gazed at them and nodded. The people took deep breaths before even getting out of their cart. Even one person uttered to themselves, "I'm so gonna die!"
"AHHH!" the man screamed before bouncing on the web-trampoline and landing in the prizes
"Ok. One done, so many to go—You can do it guys!"
One by one, each jumped and landed on the sticky web trampoline. But it's always the last person where luck dissipated when the cart broke off.
She screamed, "OH SHI–"
Spidey dove after her, "NO!"
All the air rushed through her hair, as her body was free falling. Every blink felt like each moment of her life before her eyes.
This is it. Everything was about to be black in three seconds.
THREE…
TWO..
ONE!
Huh… her face didn't splat on the floor–Strange…
She quickly huffed and puffed, slightly opening her eyes, "What the?"
Life wasn't done with her yet. Before she could splat on the pavement, she was strung up in a friendly neighborhood Spider's web.
"Oh my gosh–oh my gosh–oh my gosh—thank you, Spider-Man!"
"You okay? You gave a scare for a sec there!"
She nodded with a grateful smile, and he lowered her down safely.
Once the hero checked on every passenger on the ground, he could finally have that sigh of relief. He saved again the day. This time, in a different state.
"Phew… all in a day's work!"
Amid all the chaos, Harry stood on the outside, fidgeting with his mini OsDrone the entire time waiting for his friend by the restroom. It took a while, but he assumed Peter got lost in that big crowd–'Hmm–wait, why was there a big crowd gathering?'
He got his answer once he looked up. His eyes instantly fixated on the infamous web swinging vigilante, swinging away from Daytona Beach. 'What's he doing here?!'
The young man tried to follow him as quickly on foot. Then switched up, using his prototype OsDrone to follow the web-slinger, but that didn't work out. He disappeared in the blink of an eye. His green eyes lept darting all over the place.
Suddenly Peter rushed behind him, "Hey Harry! Sorry, I-I was… lost. Restroom was hard to find…"
Harry spat, "Guess who I saw swinging out here."
"Uh-who?"
"I'd bet you know, since you take pictures of him constantly"
"Spi-Spider-Man?… Here in Florida? No way!"
"I swear, I saw that dude swinging past me"
"What if… it's just a guy, cosplaying as him"
"I doubt he swings"
"You never know"
"I highly doubt there's more than one Spider-Man in the world," Harry pointed out.
Something about this whole interaction irked Harry. He knew Peter played dumb—too dumb, that it drew his suspicions. Then his eyes spotted something red inside Peter's pocket. He couldn't make out what it was–needless to say, his suspicions have peaked. For the rest of the walk back, those suspicions filled his mind.
Not long after, the seniors regrouped for lunch, which went splendid, most students having a Cuban Sandwich, or key-lime pie… or in Liz's case, a salad. After lunch, however, they had to improvise since most of the seniors planned on playing volleyball on the beach, but they couldn't since it was being used by other beachgoers. So instead they played some 5v5 outdoor basketball.
Flash asked while picking teams, "Yo, let's run it! Parker, Osborn, you wanna hop in?"
SOMEWHERE IN ORLANDO
Meanwhile, all the fun Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson had, was on their late night bus ride, to the Connors' home. It helped to have someone with Gwen, since that was the only way the teacher would allow her to go away from the senior pack. As much as she liked the red head's company, the blonde believed it would've been more fun to retread old ground with her fellow former intern, Peter Parker. Interning was the thing they'd do together and it made her feel alive… even when they had to deal with the shenanigans that came with it, like the Lizard, and the gene cleanser.
Now… They barely talk. Barely share eye contact. Barely are together. He had a life of his own, with his own girlfriend, his own job, and his own future. Something had to give—which she didn't like it, when it had to be her. Ever since she finally made up her mind about her relationship with Harry, she expected things to fall in place for her and Peter. Start dating, go to and graduate from the same college, get married and grow old together. Yet she's stuck in second place… which didn't feel right to her. But nevermind him—
Her future hinged on these next few weeks and what she wanted it to be. The frustrating fact was that she didn't know. Going on this trip was supposed to clear her mind, and clutter of the decision process of the 15 schools she's gotten accepted to—hopefully going to the Connors help make that decision clear.
Few people got these opportunities, yet she didn't know what to make of it-'I probably shouldn't have applied to this many schools!"
"Earth to Gwen… I think we reached our stop"
Gwen also may have blanked out too long, without realizing they arrived in the neighborhood. She grabbed her bags and followed Mary Jane out the bus.
"Gwen, you sure they're okay with me coming along?"
Gwen answered, "Yeah, Mrs. Connors said it was fine…" She giggled, "Or else it'll be a long bus ride back for you."
CONNORS' RESIDENCE
The young women noticed that the Connors' home looked smaller than expected, while being very cookie cutter, blending in with the other houses on the block. Nevertheless, the blonde and the redhead walked up that simple-white porch and knocked on their door.
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
KNOCK-
Gwen took a deep breath, with her heart beating faster. 'Don't let the nerves get to you… it's just them. Your mentors. That's all'
Mary Jane asked, "You sure this is the right place?"
Gwen answered, "Seems like the right address she sent me."
After a moment of waiting, the door opened, instantly welcomed by Mrs. Martha Connors.
Martha anxiously greeted her with an embrace, "Gwen, thank god you're here!" The brunette quickly called for her husband, "Curt–Honey! Gwen's here!"
Gwen warmly smiled, "It's good to see you too, Mrs. Connors,"
She turned to the unfamiliar redhead, "And you brought a friend! Hi, I'm Martha, and you are-"
"Mary Jane–Nice to meet you!"
Curtis popped out of the basement, and greeted the former intern, "He-hey Gwen, wonderful to see you. And—you didn't bring Peter—thought he was coming."
Gwen reasoned, "He was too busy to come."
"Oh, that's a shame. I'm really fond of him"
"I'll tell him you said that," Gwen lightly giggled.
"Go ahead, I think he'll be flattered"
They shared a chuckle before it meandered to awkwardness.
He turned to introduce himself to the new redhead, "Nice to meet you—"
"Call me MJ"
"Great. Please make yourselves at home! Here lemme take your bags for you and bring it to your room"
Curtis and Martha hurriedly brought the teenage girls' bags to the guest room, all the way in the back of the hall.
Mary Jane commented, "They seem… nice."
Gwen noticed, "Didn't they feel pretty anxious though?"
"You read my mind. Is it just the two of them?"
"No, they have a young boy, he's really fun!… Here, let me ask"
Gwen turned to the matriarch, "Mrs. Connors, do you know where Billy is? Mary Jane wants to meet him"
Not even five minutes into the Connors' home, and Martha Connors cheerful facade dropped at the mention of that question.
Gwen's suspicions grew when Martha froze in front of her, so she pulled Mrs. Connors to the side.
"What happened to Billy, Mrs. Connors?"
Martha shook off her daziness, and told her, "He's resting early right now. We can all visit him in the morning."
THE MOTEL
After many fun games of 5v5 basketball, and solid bonding time with the senior class on the bus ride back, Peter and Liz got ready for bed.
Peter asked when he entered the room, "Nosebleed?"
An exhausted Liz sat up on the bed, tilting her head slightly. Her left nostril had a tissue shoved up it, to cover the bleeding. She gulped down plenty of water, with an ice pack on her forehead, so the bleeding would stop.
"Yep. Forgot to drink a lot of water during the game. And the ball hit me in the face once"
"Ouch! But you took that hit like a champ! Need another water bottle?"
"If you could get me one—yes please"
"Alright, a cold water bottle coming right up!"
He went around the corner and took a couple of unopened water bottles for themselves.
"Thank you baby… and I'm sorry for not spending the day with you today. Like it was your first time there… could've gotten lost," she apologized.
"It's alright Liz. I actually get it"
"You do?"
"Yeah… I figured you needed girl time with Sally. And I'm fine with that…" he admitted to her.
A smile grew on her face once she heard that. It was a relief that Peter wasn't super needy for her attention… like why would he, especially with how much he had on his plate?
"By the way, I got lost–Thank you very much," he joked.
"Did you have a fine time with Harry?" she asked before she took a sip of water.
"It was alright. But he'd acted kinda off—He just kept asking questions about Spider-Man, especially since he saw him"
"That's the question you should expect, no?"
"I know… but I had no clue how to answer that. It brings suspicion. I don't want that, especially right now"
"That's fair. But that rollercoaster wasn't saving itself"
"Exactly… and I know I had to be the hero there," he admitted.
He confessed as his head gently laid on her stomach, "Was hoping I can lie low for the rest of this week… with you."
"That's definitely an option I like," she smiled.
Her beautiful amber eyes were something Peter got lost in, the longer he admired them.
As gorgeous as she was with all her glam and makeup… this was the woman he wanted to see every day. The girl with the messy hair, lack of makeup, and bloody tissue in her nose.
Just then, his phone started buzzing in his pocket. It came from his burner phone.
"One sec," he interrupted.
So he stepped aside and checked the phone. Fury sent the coordinates…
'I guess it's a good time to get it over with. So I have the rest of the week with her'
He instantly shut off the phone and shoved it in his pocket and quickly changed into his spandex suit, "I have to go—y'know, for the thing."
"Oh–Like right now?!"
"Yeah—gonna peel that bandaid off tonight!"
"Alright… but remember, you promised this is onetime thing"
"And I'll keep that promise—I will be back before you wake up"
She subtly nodded, "Alright, I guess I'll hold down the fort, for the night."
Once Peter got finished changing, he stepped toward her and softly kissed on the lips.
"Liz, you're the best!"
"I'd like to think so," she softly giggled. "That's your way of buttering me up, huh?"
"I mean it… you're great. I don't think I could do this with anyone else," he admitted.
"And I mean it when I say… I love you, Petey. I want you to be happy, so go find that happiness wherever that is. If that means getting closure about your parents"
She wrapped her arms around his neck, caressing the back of his shaggy hair. Liz admired his chocolate-colored eyes. Without another thought, she pulled him into a steamy kiss. This was her desire. To be with him, hold him tight, and never let go. Cherish their first night together, alone with no parents around to worry about. It stayed that way for a minute till she pulled away for a breath. In the back of her mind, she knew Peter had higher ambitions tonight, and nothing would stop him.
She softly tugged at him, "Get back here in time, Petey. I'm not great at thinking of excuses."
"You're brilliant Liz, I'm sure you'll think of one," he winked at her before putting on the mask.
"That isn't very helpful!" she quickly acknowledged before he leaped through the window.
All Liz could do was gaze out the window, seeing her big time hero swing out in the night sky as she stayed on the ground floor. She took a deep breath once she laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, brainstorming what excuses she could pull, in case Peter didn't live up to his promise.
'Hmmm… he's having trouble changing his… clothes?... no-no-no, nobody would buy that Lizzy. He's sick–like he got a massive headache—or he got food poisoning—hmmm—that could work… Hmmm what about-'
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
Although brainstorming was a struggle, when someone was banging on her door, and pulled her attention.
Harry asked through the door, "Hey Pete… you wanna grab a drink at the bar?… Don't worry, I'll pay."
He knocked again, "Um Pete? You in there? Need to talk to you."
Liz lost her patience and opened the door. She took a deep breath, not wanting to appear grumpy.
"Hey Harry, sorry—Petey is asleep right now. He isn't feeling well."
"Oh really? Guess the cold water got to him… but okay—sorry to bother, Liz"
"Yeah… don't worry about it, Harry. I'll tell him you wanted to catch a drink with you, when he wakes up."
"Thanks, Liz. Um-well—Goodnight!" he smirked.
"Night Harry," she told him before shutting the door.
Harry stepped away from their door and strolled over to his room. He gazed down on this device that rested on his forearm, which had footage from an airborne OsDrone that filmed everything. Unfortunately for him, the OsDrone was too high up to visibly see anything, with the pixelated footage not being the best. He still needed to tweak to it. Still, his suspicions locked onto Peter.
…
Several Minutes Later, Spider-Man arrived at… a lake? Wait, there must be something wrong…
There was nothing there. No government buildings or buildings at all.
Just a lake.
And the coordinates were spot on, unless his compass failed him or he forgot how to use a compass. So he pulled out the burner phone and called Fury.
"Hey Mr. Fury… I think you sent the wrong coordinates… I see nothing—"
Right as Spidey was about to finish his sentence, a large aircraft appeared out of nowhere, and hovered above him, covering the moonlight. The enormous blue-ish gray aircraft had this overwhelming dominant body, and two large propellers on each side. It was far bigger than any helicopter the wall-crawler saw in New York City, and it seemed far more weaponized than most tanks.
"You better see us, young fella," Fury replied.
Peter looked up at the hovering airship, with a smile and swung into the large airship.
STRATEGIC HOMELAND INTERVENTION ENFORCEMENT AND LOGICSTICS DIVISION
Nick Fury greeted with a smug smile, "Ah, Spider-Man… Nice of you to finally join us!"
"Kinda got lost on the way here. You don't have the best directions," Spider-man mentioned.
"You can lose the mask. Looks like it'd be suffocating you"
"I kinda like it on"
"Fine by me. C'mon, let me take you on a tour. Obviously, this is confidential"
"Oh, yeah. That won't be a problem. Let's just make this quick Fury. My girlfriend's gonna be mad if I'm late"
"Sounds like rough night, you're gonna have, Parker," Fury sneered.
The laid back web-slinger observed how strict and uptight the agents were. He even gave them a friendly wave, and they completely ignored it. Spidey noticed that even Nick Fury was uptight.
'What's going on?'
For the next few minutes, they strolled around the large helicarrier, showing Peter plenty of things about this organization. The beautiful view from above, new technology like force fields, and a large fruit bar. Despite all of this state of the arc tech, his favorite part about the place is the large fruit bar. "Can I grab something from the fruit bar? I'm really craving honey-dew at the moment"
"Not right now, kid. We're almost where we need to be"
Spidey caught up with Nick, and asked, "Sooo… What'd my parents work as?"
Fury answered, "Spies. But they spent most of their time in the lab, as scientists."
"Wait-wait-wait—Spies? Like actual spies?"
"Yep. But you'll out more about the specifics of their job in a bit"
It felt like they've been going in a straight line for the longest time. Till they finally reached a screeching halt. They stopped in front of the large prisoners' cells, which appeared very state-of-the-arc… Even had their force field technology built into it.
"These are the cells we have, in case of threats or… traitors"
"These look… comfy. But you'll never catch me in one of these, trust me"
Suddenly Nick jarringly stepped away from Spider-Man, with a snarky grin on his face.
"Fury, what's up?"
"Trust… it's an intriguing word, isn't it? It takes a whole lot to build it, and something as small as a stab to the back, can tear it all down"
Fury pressed play on the rough-quality audio, with the overbearing static and background noise… but then it slowly became clear. Their voices felt so familiar, yet not at all, it drew Peter in.
His father, Richard Parker wheezed, 'Oh—This is it.'
'After all the risky missions we've been through and done for this organization… we're going to bite the dust like this.'
'Sure, we just didn't do our best, but we were compromised. We had some prisoners threatening to expose us, but they're not going to tell a soul. They won't get to'
'We promise that. Right, honey? Because they're going down with us. Their kid, though. He plays with Peter a lot.'
'But we-we uh… never said goodbye to our little boy… Dammit, Richard. We never got to say bye to him. We need a way out of here-'
'Mary, keep yourself together. He's in better hands with Ben and May. You know that. And we're here serving the one we love. And we're going down in their name.'
'In the name of Hydra!'
'Hydra?'
Peter had no clue what's going on. Instantly Peter's spidey sense rang in his head. Before he could react, the cell doors snappily shut with knock-out gas slowly flowing in.
"Fury, what's happening! What's Hydra?! FURY!"
*CELL THREE, LOCKED AND ENGAGED*
Peter tried powerfully punching his way out. That BACKFIRED, instantly electrocuting him, and powerfully bouncing his body back.
The head of Shield revealed, "You asked what they did, for this place. So here's what they did. They sold our secrets to Hydra Scientists behind everyone's back–behind mine… making them traitors to SHIELD–Yet their deaths weren't enough payment… So you, Peter Parker, are gonna paying for the sins of your father and your mother."
The thick knock-out-gas cloud surely drowned out Peter's consciousness, so he laid there, in the cell with one thought on his mind. 'This is why I shouldn't keep promises I can't keep!'
TO BE CONTINUED…