Chapter 22

*Doorbell rings*

"Coming!" A voice rang out from behind the door.

A few moments later, Ned's Lola opened the door & stared at Peter in surprise.

"Peter? You're, uhm, extremely early," she continued, slightly surprised (& worried) at the gaunt-looking boy in standing in front of her.

Peter flashed his best (tired-looking) smile at her. "Ye-yeah, sorry Lola. I've got something I need to talk to Ned about," Peter said politely, looking slightly dismayed past the old woman. "May I come in?"

"Oh, uhm, s-sure," Ned's Lola blinked back in surprise for a few moments before Peter made his way past her and up the stairs into Ned's room.

"Ned! Peter's here!" she yelled out towards Ned from downstairs, as Peter knocked & opened the door to his friend's room.

"Ned? Buddy?" Peter said softly as he peeked into the room.

A groggy looking Ned, mumbled incoherently as he turned in his bed. "No, not pumpkin juice, please,"

Peter breathed a small sigh of relief, before sitting down next to his friend.

"Hey, Ned? Wake up man, I need your help," Peter tapped Ned on the shoulders to wake him up.

"No, no, Spider-Man, no need… thank me… all… day's work for…,"

Peter lets out a soft smile, listening to Ned's rambling. He then took a quick glance around the room, checking for anything that's out of place.

Suddenly Ned's grandmother slammed the door open, (to Peter's surprise) and started clanging some pots right next to the pair of boys.

"Ned! Gising na!" she yelled, while banging the pots right in front of a sleeping Ned. "Wake up! Peter's here!"

Ned immediately woke up, startled by the noise. He immediately looked around the room, slightly groggy. "Peter?" he said, mildly confused, looking at the bedside clock, and back at Peter.

Peter smiled sheepishly. "Hey man, sorry I'm a bit early,"

Lola looked at the two boys smugly, before making her way out of the room. "Don't be so soft with him Peter," she nagged while on her way out. "This boy wouldn't wake up if the whole house went up in flame,"

"Peter?" Harry called out, looking slightly worried at the pale-faced Peter.

"Morning Harry," Ned answered on Peter's behalf, as they walked past Harry, while Peter lets out a big yawn & waved back at him.

"You guys are early today. What happened to Zombie-face here?" Harry asked as he walked with them to their lockers.

"Late-night cramming," Peter offered weakly. "I'll be fine once the caffeine kicks in," he continued, while taking out another can of coffee from his bag.

Ned raised his eyebrow's inquisitively as he watched Peter took a big gulp from his can. "Uhm, you sure you wanna drink that?" Ned said, speculatively. "That's your 4th can this morning,"

"Uhh, yeah, I'll be fine," Peter replied, smirking to himself when he thought about all the coffees he drank while on-lookout at Ned's house last night. "It's just 4 ca-,"

*Bang!*

Before Harry could say anything back at him, a loud crashing noise was heard a few meters away from them down the hallway.

As the three boys (& the whole hallway) turned to look at the source, a sheepish Liz was seen smiling awkwardly at them all, standing next to a bent-down Gwen who was rubbing her temple in pain.

"Uhh, late-night cramming," Liz offered to no one in particular, before dragging the still groggy girl up & away from the crowd.

"So… here we are again," Mr. Dell looked back at him from behind his glasses.

Peter smiled awkwardly back at the teacher.

"Only this time, you've found yourself a friend for a change," Mr. Dell smiled sarcastically as he eyed the pair.

Gwen shuffled awkwardly as she looked down at her feet.

"It's nice to know that my voice is soothing enough to help the both of you sleep," he continued.

Mr. Dell lets out a long sigh, before pinching his nose in mild annoyance. "It's hard enough when it was just one of you," Mr. Dell sighed, before continuing. "Come on then, what's your excuse Ms. Stacy?"

Gwen paused for a moment, as she glanced awkwardly at the teacher. "Uhm, Late-night studies?" she offered weakly.

Mr. Dell raised his eyebrow in acknowledgement as he scribbled down some notes, while looking disinterested. "Fine, you are excused," Mr. Dell said. "Don't do it again," he said off-handedly before packing up his stuff.

"Mr. Parker, as usual, carry those papers over to the teacher's office as punishment," he continued, before getting up.

Peter immediately picked up the stacks of paper they collected with trained familiarity as he made his way out.

Gwen looked back at the two, for a moment, slightly hesitant. "So… uhm-,"

"He's a repeat offender," Mr. Dell said dryly without looking at her. "I'm cutting you some slack, so get a move on," he continued. "Unless you would like to join him?"

Gwen immediately perked up, shook her head vigorously, before returning to her seat & packing up her stuff.

As Peter smiled at her antics while he was walking out of the classroom, he was greeted by the sight of Liz leaning outside the door.

"Hey Peter," Liz smiled at him. "I'm waiting for Gwen," she gestured with her eyes towards Gwen. "You need some help with that?"

"Oh, uhh, no," Peter assured her. "I'm good,"

"Run along now," Mr. Dell said calmly as he waved Peter away from the office. "And please, take this more seriously Mr. Parker,"

"Uhh, yeah, of course sir," Peter grinned sheepishly as he ducked out of the teacher's office. "Won't happen again. Promise,"

Mr. Dell lets out a long sigh, before shaking his head in disapproval.

Peter lets out a long sigh of his own as he walked away from the teacher's office.

As tired as he felt, he also felt immensely relieved now that the drive was safely in his pocket. After splitting up from Ghost-Spider last night, Peter felt pretty sure that the impostor had lied about the tracking beacon function of the drive, as no one came by Ned's house last night during his stake-out.

However, Peter felt he wasn't about to risk his friend's safety & took it off of Ned's hands, just in case. This was Spider-Man's problem, not his friend's.

"Um, excuse me?"

Peter, deep in thought about his next course of action regarding the drive, failed to notice the voice calling out to him. Nor did he notice the platinum-blonde haired girl, whom the voice belonged to.

"Hey! Mister? Excuse me?" The girl called out while chasing after Peter, eventually catching up to him and getting his attention.

"Huh?" Peter turned towards her as she held his shoulder.

Standing in front of him was a beautiful, striking, young woman, in a lab-coat, her platinum-blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She was slightly out of breath, having had to chase him along the hallway.

Peter blinked back, slightly taken aback by her looks.

"Would you mind helping me out please?"

"So, uhm, Dr. Carey-,"

"Uhm, Carey's fine. I'm only a year or two older than you," she said, blushing slightly. "Also, not a doctor yet," she said, awkwardly pointing at the 'Lab assistant' label on her coat.

Peter blushed as he recollects his thoughts. "Oh, r-right. Sorry," he smiled sheepishly. "So, have you ever met Prof. Warren before?" Peter continued.

"Hmm? Oh yes, I've met him a number of times," she smiled warmly. "I'm a big fan of his research on… science," she continued.

Peter mulled over the thought for a few moments as he leads the way. "Hmm, yes, his-,"

Suddenly, Peter slipped and fell down on his butt just as they were walking past the toilets, which earned him a giggle from Ms. Carey.

Peter quickly got up, and brushed his pants off, flushing red with embarrassment.

"Uhm, sorry about that," Peter said, slightly embarrassed, catching sight of the wet floor sign in front of him. "I must've been distracted I guess," he offered weakly.

Ms. Carey flashed him a quick smirk, before shrugging her shoulders.

"I have that effect on people," she smirked playfully. "Or you know, just a bit of bad luck,"

"Maybe," Peter smiled softly, before turning away, still feeling slightly embarrassed. "Right, then, uhh, where were we?"

"Hmm? You were saying some science-y stuff," she replied, letting out a small yawn behind Peter's back.

"Oh, y-yeah," Peter quickly said, trying to shift the conversation to avoid dwelling on his accident. "So, uhm, which of his thesis did you like most?" Peter inquired, a bit excitedly.

"Hmm? Oh, uh, the most recent one," she said simply while glancing occasionally to their surroundings.

"You mean the one on Darwinian Evolution Theory?" Peter said excitedly. "Yeah, that was a pretty interesting hypothesis he proposed in his thesis," Peter nodded along as he recalls the thesis he read.

"Right, Darwinian Evolution Theory. Yes," Ms. Carey nodded along with him. "But I've heard he's involved in some kind of accident recently? Is he alright?" she questioned innocently.

"Hmm? Oh, that," Peter nodded as he recalls the events with the Jackal. "Uhm, I guess there was a bit of a scuffle over at his lab, but I wouldn't say he's involved with it," Peter commented casually.

"Hmmm… I heard even Spider-Man got involved with it," Ms. Carey continued brightly.

Peter immediately tensed up at the mention of his alter-ego.

"H-huh? Really? I don't know anything about that," Peter said awkwardly. "Why would Spider-Man be here?"

Ms. Carey raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his comments. "Seriously? I thought everyone already knew about Spider-Man being involved," she said off-handedly. "Weird that you didn't know anything about it,"

"H-huh?" Peter stammered for a few moments.

"Well, who cares anyway," Ms. Carey brushed it off, to Peter's relief, seemingly more focused at taking notes of the school's layout.

Peter continued to lead the way to Prof. Warren's lab.

"Did Mr. Modell or any of the teacher's tell you anything?" Peter asked, trying to make casual conversation.

"Hmm? About what exactly?" Ms. Carey asked off-handedly, her gaze looking over at her surroundings.

"About the incident, or anything about Prof. Warren," Peter offered.

"Hmm…," Ms. Carey paused for a few moments, her focus still very much placed on her surroundings. "Nope, not really," she continued. "I haven't met any of the teachers yet,"

"Oh?" Peter turned around inquisitively.

Ms. Carey suddenly smiled at him. "I'm actually kinda shy. And you're the first person I saw that I felt comfortable asking," she smiled shyly.

Peter felt the blood rushing to his face, as he walked in front of them to hide his reddening face. "A-anyway, we're here already," Peter stammered, as he turned to show the lab down the corridor to Ms. Carey. "Prof. Warren's lab is the big one, at the end of the corridor," Peter pointed out. "Although, I don't think he's come back yet ever since that whole lab incident last week,"

For a split second, he thought he saw Ms. Carey smirking at him, but whatever Peter thought about it, instantly went away when Ms. Carey grabbed his hands and stared at him with her round blue eyes. "Thanks, I owe you one," she smiled playfully. "I just wanted to check out the workplace in advance. Before, you know, starting out with the whole lab assistant thing,"

"Y-yeah, sure," Peter laughed nervously, trying his best to keep his cool. "You'd want to leave a good first impression, I get it," Peter nodded to himself.

"Exactly," Ms. Carey smiled warmly towards him.

As Peter stood there smiling awkwardly at the college beauty, she eventually turned towards him, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"So… thanks for the help,"

"Oh yeah-yeah, no problem," Peter brushed it off.

"So… you can…," Ms. Carey gestured softly with her eyes. "Leave me to it now?"

"Huh? O-oh! Y-yeah, sure," Peter said, slightly surprised & embarrassed at his own antics. "I guess I'll leave you to it," Peter said awkwardly.

Ms. Carey flashed him a smile before waving him away.

*tingle*

Just as he turned & started towards the Cafeteria, Peter felt his spider-sense tingling, and his attention is immediately pulled towards the supposedly abandoned lab.

Peter started to frown, as he was sure the lab was supposed to be empty still. And yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with the situation.

Ms. Carey lets out a soft sigh as she noticed Peter's direction of travel. "Look honey, I don't mean to be rude, but you're being way too cli-,"

To her surprise, Peter walked right past her with a frown & approached the lab door. As he started to open the door & peek inside, Ms. Carey eventually called out to him.

"H-hey!" she yelled at him in dismay.

Peter, startled by the sudden call, snapped back to reality, and momentarily blinked in confusion. Just as he was about to apologised to Ms. Carey for his sudden behaviour, suddenly, the door opened from the inside.

"P-professor?" Peter asked, surprised at seeing Prof. Warren standing in front of him. "You're back?"

Professor Warren turned towards him, with his trademark scowl. "Yes, I was just coming back to collect some papers," he said simply. "And I would prefer if I wasn't disturbed," he said with a scowl, his annoyance clearly apparent in his voice.

Peter winced, as he felt guilty for trying to barge into the man's workplace. Added in with the fact that he was partially responsible for the scuffle with the Jackal that caused the lab explosion a few days ago, he immediately backed away & apologised to the professor.

"S-sorry sir," Peter looked down at his feet guiltily.

In his defence, on that day, Peter was trying to catch the Jackal after he heard from Capt. Stacy that it was snooping around the labs after school. But before he could figure anything, Gwen's surprise visit to the lab that evening caused him to panic and knocked down one of the vials that day. 'Would've been nice if I got night vision as well, huh,' Peter remembered thinking to himself.

After glaring at him for a few moments, Prof. Warren eventually turned back towards the lab & brushed him away. "Look, just, don't disturb me, and go away," he said, scowling.

"Woah, Déjà vu," Peter muttered softly under his voice.

Just as he turned to leave, he saw Ms. Carey frowning, and staring intently at the Professor. Peter smacked his head in frustration, before turning back towards the professor.

"Right, uhh, I almost forgot. Thi-,"

"Carey, Carey Harmon," she smiled calmly, holding her hand out for a handshake.

For a few quick moments, Prof. Warren looked slightly hesitant as he eyed Ms. Harmon warily. "And… you are…?" he said, slowly accepting the handshake.

"I'm your new Lab Assistant?" she smiled at him quizzically. "Mr. Modell told me to report in today. I assumed he must've told you about it over the weekend or something,"

"I see," Prof. Warren nodded thoughtfully for a few moments. "I'm afraid that I had decided to… go under the radar so to speak, over the weekend," he explained. "I must've missed his call,"

"Oh, that's weird," Ms. Harmon frowned (cutely?). "I'm pretty sure my employment was already confirmed since last week. You'd think he'd have told you during the weekdays or something,"

To Peter's surprise, Prof. Warren looked slightly flustered after hearing her words.

"Ahh, ye-yes, I remember now," Prof. Warren suddenly said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Carey Harmon. He did tell me about you last week," he nodded.

"A pleasure to finally meet you professor," Ms. Harmon smiled warmly. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting to see you here today," she continued, sounding slightly surprised.

"Yes, well, there's something I had to come & collect," Prof. Warren frowned. "But I'm afraid I'm not feeling all that well. Please, leav-,"

"Great! I can't wait to get started!" Ms. Harmon quickly cuts him off and barged into the lab.

Peter quickly noted the (uncharacteristically?) furious look plastered across the professor's face. He's seen the professor looking annoyed plenty of times, but he's never seen him this angry.

Peter, still slightly confused as to the reason why the professor was so furious, quickly stepped in to try & calm the professor down. But before he could say anything, the professor glared at him, signalling him to shut up.

Peter quickly backed away, deciding to keep his mouth shut.

Professor Warren marched into the lab furiously, where Ms. Harmon was already sitting, crossed-legs, comfortably on one of the stools.

"Ms. Harmon! A-,"

"Please, call me Carey," she continued to smile, seemingly oblivious to his anger.

Peter, who was still stood by the doorway, winced slightly, as he saw the agitation across the professor's face.

"As I have said! I have not. Been. Feeling. Well," Prof. Warren scowled.

"Well, you're certainly well enough to shout," Ms. Harmon muttered softly under her breath, just loud enough for others to hear.

Peter couldn't help but be perplexed at what he's seeing, confused as to why Ms. Harmon is seemingly trying her best to agitate the professor.

"Leave now. I insist," Prof. Warren fumed as he pointed towards the door for her to leave. "Now!"

For a few moments, Peter felt the air around them tensing up, as Ms. Harmon remained seated. Until suddenly, she got up & looked apologetically at him.

"I'm sorry Professor," she apologised, her eyes seemingly moist. "I was just so excited to start working with you, I guess I must've went overboard," she said, sniffling slightly.

The professor, still looking agitated, seemingly softened his scowl slightly as he saw the young lady in front of him. "Yes, well, but I'm afraid I must still insist that you leave this lab, right now," he insisted.

"I understand," Ms. Harmon said, as she stood up and brushed her skirt slightly. "I'm sorry professor," she said, smiling warmly, before making her way towards the lab entrance.

As she passed the professor, she muttered so softly, that even with Peter's enhanced hearing, he almost missed out on what she said.

"Передавайте привет вашему босс,"

*tingle*

"Look out!"

Peter immediately tried to tackle Ms. Harmon out of the way, as Prof. Warren suddenly threw at them a round-shaped object that detonated into a bright white flash.

Facing the full brunt of the flash, Peter couldn't do anything but watch as he sees Prof. Warren running with surprising agility out of the lab.

As soon as he tried to get up & give chase, he was suddenly struck a feeling of disorientation, and fell down on his butt.

"H-hey, are you okay?" Ms. Harmon quickly knelt down beside him.

"Y-yeah, I just-, the flash is making me a bit dizzy," Peter said, shaking his head to try & shake off the effects of the flash. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" he asked, his concern clear in his voice.

"Y-yeah, no-, I'm fine," Ms. Harmon smiled warmly. "Tha-,"

"Ok," Peter said, as he quickly got up.

Ms. Harmon blinked back, slightly surprised at being cut off by him, before regaining her composure. "Hey, you should lie down a bit, that bla-,"

"It's okay, I'm fine," Peter quicky said. "Stay here, I'll go get some teachers for help," he said, as he rushed away & left her alone inside the lab.

Ms. Harmon sat there, feeling slightly surprised at the vigor shown by Peter. "Huh, that was…, different," she frowned, as she blew a stray bang away from her eyes.

Ms. Harmon then lets out a soft sigh as she stood up & walked towards Prof. Warren's office. "At least that somehow worked out in my favour. Now then, time to go to work," she smirked playfully, stretching her limbs as she limbered up for her next course of action.

Peter, who realised that the man that attacked them just now was probably the same person that disguised himself as Daredevil last night, immediately gave chase. But the momentary pause he took after the blast was more than enough for the professor to give him the slip.

For a moment, he debated whether it was better to chase him as Peter, but he ultimately decided it would be a lot harder to act if he has to cover up his powers, and quickly switched into his costumed persona.

'I'll just have to explain why Spider-Man shows up at Midtown High to take down a professor later,' Peter grumbled to himself, while crawling in the shadows as he sticked to the ceiling to try & get a bird's eye view and trying to catch the impostor.

After a few minutes of unsuccessful spying, Peter lets out a small sigh in frustration.

"Dammit, there's no sign of him anywhere," Peter groaned to himself in frustration.

Peter quickly considered if he should try & ask for his friends for help, slightly reluctant to involve them in anything related to Spider-Man businesses. He eventually decided it was more dangerous to leave the impostor running around in the school, and that he'll try to keep their involvement to the minimum.

*beep*

"Hey Ned?" Peter called out as soon as Ned picked up.

"Peter? Huh," Ned replied, sounding slightly confused.

"Listen Ned, I need your help," Peter quickly said, ignoring the tone of confusion in Ned's voice.

"Uhh, ok sure,"

"I need you & Harry to help me look for Prof. Warren," Peter explained.

"Huh? I don't know where he lives-,"

"N-no, I saw him in the school earlier," Peter quickly explained. "I wanted to check with him for a project I'm working on,"

Suddenly there was a slight crackling noise ("Hey!"), before Harry's voice rang out from the phone.

"You've got a lot of nerve asking us for help after you brushed us off like that," Harry said coldly.

"Har-," Peter paused for a moment. "Wait, what?"

Another soft crackling immediately followed before Ned's voice returned to the phone.

"Don't listen to him man, I don't mind," Ned said assuringly.

Peter quickly processed what he just heard before taking a glance at his watch. "Ned! Did you just see me just now?"

"Uhh…, yes?"

"Where?!"

"I-in the 2F hallway," Ned said timidly.

Peter bit his lip under his mask, slightly caught off-guard with the recent revelation.

"Where was I headed?!" Peter said, struggling to hide his intensity.

"Huh?"

"I need to know where I was going just now! Please Ned!" Peter insisted.

"Um, I guess you were heading down towards the gym staircase," Ned replied. "Listen Peter, I-,"

"Ok, thanks Ned, I gotta go," Peter said succinctly. "Oh, and uhh, stay where you are. Just…, don't go anywhere,"

"Huh? Wait, so do we still have to fi-,"