Chapter 23

"What's wrong with blondie here?" Betty asked, whilst chewing a gum.

Liz quickly glanced towards the pale-faced, gaunt looking teenager next to her, and shrugged her shoulders. "Drugs. She did hardcore drugs,"

A loud snort of laughter came from behind them, as Glory hears the joke whilst approaching them. "Good one Allan," she beamed as she approached them.

Gwen rolled her tired eyes at them, and flipped them off. "Shut up," she said, slightly agitated.

"Found yourself a new boyfriend or something?" Betty smirked, while gesticulating comically with her hips.

Gwen balked in disgust at the joke. "That's disgusting Brant," she told her off. "And no, I wasn't up all night, fucking,"

Betty shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Prudes,"

Gwen looked over at her friend, perplexed and speechless, before steering the conversation away. "I was up studying," she lied. "Unlike some of us, I care about my grades," she continued, feeling a bit snippy.

"Oof, low blow Stacy," Betty clutched her chest, feigning hurt at Gwen's words.

"It's true though," Glory chimed.

"You know it," Betty smirked slyly before moving in for a fist-bump with her cousin.

After a brief exchange with Betty, Glory turned her attention back towards Liz & Gwen, "Aren't you guys going for lunch?" she asked.

"We've already grabbed lunch," Liz replied. "Just a quick one, since Gwen's…, you know," she continued, before running her fingers along her neck horizontally.

Gwen shrugged her head at her friend's jokes, feeling too tired to muster up a response. After Spider-Man had left her last night after the incident with Daredevil, she decided to take over for him & patrol the street for the night.

Before she knew it, it was already dawn, and she barely got a few hours of sleep before she needed to head for school.

"Whatever. Now if you don't mind, I've got a desk just waiting for me to lie on," she said briskly, getting ready to leave the group.

"Where's she heading in such a hurry?" Betty asked, slightly skeptically.

Liz smiled warmly at her friend's antics. "Wait up, I told you, let's go together," Liz nagged. "She's gonna go take a nap in the next class before it starts," she explained to the pair of cousins. "And I, can use the extra hours to brush up for the Decathlon,"

Betty lets out a soft whistle before shrugging her shoulders. "No rest for the wicked, eh?" she chuckled. "Your funeral, Allan. I for one, do not envy you," she smirked, before giving Liz a reassuring pat on her shoulder, and walking away to leave.

Suddenly, one of the door in the corridor swung open slightly, before a slightly shifty looking teenager slipped through them and started heading towards them.

Betty lets out another of her soft whistles. "Look what the cat just brought in," Betty smirked lightly as she sees Peter walking towards them in a rush.

Liz's face lit up for a few moments, before she quickly turned towards Gwen.

*snore*

To her surprise (and amusement), Gwen was already leaning her head against one of the lockers, a soft snore could be heard escaping from her lips.

Liz smiled in disbelief, as the pair of cousins started sniggering at Gwen.

Betty then crept next to Gwen, and leaned right next to her ears.

"STACY!"

*Bang!*

Gwen immediately perked up in surprise, accidentally banging her head against Betty's in the process.

Gwen rubbed her temple, now throbbing slightly after the collision, whilst Betty was now crouched down to the side, holding her nose.

"What the fuck Stacy?!" Betty yelled out in anger.

"What?! How is that my fault?!" Gwen yelled back, still nursing her temple.

Betty started grumbling under her breath, before giving Gwen the side-eye. "Get that…, head of yours under control man," she grumbled, shaking her head in frustration.

Just as Gwen was readying her retort, a quick jab to her ribs (Ouch!) from Liz quickly shifted her attention.

Liz quickly gestured towards the now nearby Peter, approaching them, with her eyes.

Gwen, who was still slightly confused about the whole situation, took a few moments, before closing her eyes, and pulled her hoodie up, letting out a soft sigh of frustration. She then quickly turned away from the approaching boy, pretending instead to inspect the (random) locker in front of her with keen interest, deciding to ignore the boy completely.

"Seriously?" Liz rolled her eyes in disbelief.

Gwen bit her lips, before whispering softly. "Leave me alone, it's-, I-, shut up," she mouthed.

Suddenly, Glory jumped right in front of Peter as he walked past them.

"Hey Peter!"

Peter, seemingly taken aback by the sudden greeting, paused for a few moments, before addressing them.

"Uhh, h-hey," Peter smiled (hesitantly?) before waving back at Glory.

Betty, who was still pinching her nose, scoffed at his antics.

"You don't have to sound so surprised every time we meet, you dork," Betty grumbled.

Peter paused for a few moments, before smiling softly at them. "Right, I apologise. I'm sorry girls, but I hav-,"

"Where you heading to Pete?" Liz suddenly cuts into the conversation.

"Uhm, class, you know, earl-,"

"Great!" Liz exclaimed, catching Peter slightly off-guard. "That's where we're going," she continued, before dragging the ever quiet Gwen in front of Peter (H-hey!). "Mind if we join you?" she inquired innocently.

Gwen, who was now standing in front of Peter, blinked for a few moments, before smirking awkwardly at the boy in front of her. "H-hey Pete. I uhh…, didn't see you there," she chuckled nervously.

"Oh, uhh, no problem," Peter smiled, fidgeting slightly. "Look, I'm sorry, but I gotta go," Peter insisted, before trying to duck away from the girls.

"Oh, o-okay,"

"I'll see you later, Stacy,"

For a split second, Gwen felt her heart sinking, her feelings of sadness completely overwriting her drowsiness as she heard Peter's remarks.

"S-stacy?" she mouthed softly.

*thwip*

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a red & blue blur swinged in from one of the overhead windows, and clung to the ceiling.

"Found you!"

*click, click*

For a moment, Gwen expected to see a stream of web-fluids firing towards them, after hearing the web-shooter clicks she's grown accustomed to over the last few days. However, to her surprise, nothing happened.

"Seriously?! Now?!" Spider-Man groaned, as he turned to the web-shooters strapped on his wrist.

In a split-second, Peter suddenly barged past them, and sprinted across the corridor, catching Gwen off-guard.

"Argh!"

When Gwen turned towards the source of the scream, she was greeted with the sight of Spider-Man, clawing his own webbing off of his face.

As the four of them gaped in disbelief at what they're witnessing, Spider-Man yelled at them in desperation.

"That's not m-. H-he's an impostor! Get away from him!"

Before she even realized what she's doing, Gwen's body moved on its own and started to chase after the now faraway Peter, as she immediately recalled the bizarre incident with Daredevil last night, and quickly surmised the situation.

However, to Gwen's frustration, fake Peter was already approaching the doors, having moved with surprising speed, whilst she was still a good distance away.

"Fuck!" Gwen cursed under her breath, as she lamented her missing web-shooters that she left at home.

Just as fake Peter was about to reach for the door, the door suddenly flew open, as a flaming red-haired teenager bursts through the door.

*BANG!*

"What's up, Bitc-!" MJ started to announce loudly at her friends down the corridor, before pausing mid-sentence, as she sees the sprinting Gwen, the red & blue clad superhero in the distance, and the sprawling Peter, lying flat on the floor.

"Peter?!" she asked concerned, wincing at the scene.

Just as he was about to get up, Gwen immediately made up the last few meters and tackled the boy, before she then pinned him down on to the ground, and slapped him hard, venting away her sadness & frustration.

After freeing himself from his own webs, Spider-Man quickly leapt next to them, seemingly wincing slightly as he witnessed the beating being delivered by Gwen on the visage of the teenage boy.

"Uhm, G-gwen? Maybe that's enough,"

"Gwen! Stop it! Wha-," MJ started, before she stopped herself, as the young boy's face started to flicker, before eventually turning into a creepy, featureless, white-masked man.

Once she was sure that the man had been incapacitated (and having vent her anger), Gwen relented, panting slightly from the exertion.

"S-sorry,"

Spider-Man seemed to shift uncomfortably in his shoes, after seeing the image of the young boy being beaten up by Gwen.

"It-, it's okay," he said warmly. "Come on, let's get you up," he continued, before offering a hand towards Gwen to help her up from the prone man.

"So…, I just took down, like, a super-villain?"

Spider-Man seemingly mulled over the thought for a few moments. "I guess you did," he said, chuckling slightly. "Gwen, can you call the cops over-," Spider-Man seemingly caught himself mid-sentence. "O-or, you know, any one of you, can you call the cops over to catch him? Ahaha!" he laughed nervously out of the blue.

"I've already gave the cops a call," Gwen said, oblivious to Spider-Man's antics. "They'll be here in a few minutes,"

"R-right," Spider-Man nodded, before turning to the now tied-up impostor. "Okay, you girls can leave now, I've got a few things I need to ask him,"

"Uh-uh, we're staying here," Betty said dismissively. "To keep a lookout on him, of course,"

"Yeah, we're definitely taking credit for catching this guy," Glory smirked excitedly.

"Hey, I did that by myself," MJ retorted, crossing her arms indignantly.

"Pfft, the only thing you did was barge open the door like a gorilla," Betty quipped.

"Which, led to him being caught! Thank you very much," MJ said smugly.

Gwen rolled her eyes in embarrassment at her friend's antics. "Sorry Spidey, but I think we'll stick around. At least until the police gets here," Gwen continued.

"I've texted Mr. Modell. He's on his way here now," Liz added.

Spider-Man turned towards each of them, looking slightly unsure.

"Fine. I guess it's okay," he eventually relented, before kneeling over the tied-up man. "Now, let's see if we can get something out of you,"

"Cool! We get to see an actual hero interrogation process!" Glory whispered excitedly. "Oh, and by the way, what happened with the whole, 'Web-Your-Face' thing just now?" she asked innocently.

Gwen eyed the masked vigilante with the corner of her eyes, interested to know what happened as well.

Spider-Man rubbed the nape of his neck, before letting out a small chuckle.

"My uhh, web-shooters got jammed," he chuckled. "Which is kinda weird. It's never happened before," he said while rubbing his chin, seemingly contemplating the event himself.

"Web… Shooters…," Liz suddenly mouthed so softly, that only Gwen seemed to have heard. Liz continued to frown, seemingly deep in thought. "Where have I heard that before…,"

"It's not been my day today," Spider-Man softly sighed, before tearing open the webbing covering the impostor's mouth.

The tied-up man, seemingly smirked at Spider-Man, his featureless face creeping out each of the girls.

"Bravo, Spider-Man. Not many have been lucky enough to have witnessed the Chameleon's true face,"

"Chameleon?" Spider-Man chuckled softly. "What, is that what you call yourself? Do all villains need to have like a code-name to be a villain or something?" he joked.

"Well, coming from you, that's kind-," Liz chimed in.

"Yeah, okay, point taken," Spider-Man sighed in frustration. "What are you doing here Chameleon?" he quickly turned serious as he faced Chameleon.

"Me? Why, you told me to come here yourself, remember?" he answered mockingly.

Spider-Man paused for a few moments, before continuing. He reached towards his pockets and took out a USB drive. "You're after this, aren't you," he continued, dangling the USB in front of the man.

The Chameleon shrugged his shoulders dismissively at this.

Liz's started to frown again after seeing the drive dangling from Spider-Man's hands.

"No, I know that much already," Spider-Man said under his breath. "but, that doesn't explain how you narrowed it down to Midtown,"

"Well, Midtown's been pretty famous recently," the man smirked.

Gwen frowned as she heard the man's words, trying her best to connect the dots, before a sudden realization hits her. "Uncle Miles…," she mouthed softly.

Spider-Man seemed to immediately perk up at Gwen's words.

"Prof. Warren!" Spider-Man exclaimed. He then quickly grabbed the Chameleon by the collar. "Tell me! What does this drive have anything to do with the professor?! What does the Kingpin want with all this?!"

The Chameleon suddenly laughed out loud, seemingly finding the whole situation as a joke.

"Finally, you're asking the right questions Spider-Man," he grinned.

"Tell me dammit!" Spider-Man exclaimed threateningly, seemingly trying to intimidate the man in front of him.

The Chameleon lets out a small yawn, before turning away. "What are you going to do? Hit me?" he smirked. "You're a goody two-shoes, Spider-Man. No one's afraid of you, 'Boy'," he continued, before staring defiantly at Spider-Man's eyes.

After a few tense moments, Spider-Man shoved the man back down onto the floor and lets out a frustrated groan.

The Chameleon smirked defiantly at Spider-Man. "Idiots like you, who play around at being 'Heroes', you've no idea what you're up against," he threatened, still smirking creepily. "You've no idea what you have in your hands do you?"

Spider-Man lets out a small sigh. "Trust me bud, I've been trying to crack that one myself," he muttered softly.

"You don't even know what-, Who, are the powers at play in this game, boy!" he continued to threaten. "You think my client's the only one who's looking for that drive?! The owner wants it back! And you! You're nothing but a tiny insect, caught in a much larger web than yo-,"

*Bang!*

Suddenly, MJ smacked the Chameleon's head with a metal tray, causing him to lose consciousness.

"Man, what a sore loser," MJ grumbled. "Just shut up and admit you lost, freak," she said, flipping off the unconscious man.

Gwen pinched he nose in disbelief at MJ's actions (What?). "Sorry Spidey. She's got, uh, anger management issues,"

Gwen and MJ joined Spider-Man as he left the corridor and walked towards one of the windows, the now unconscious man currently being watched over by Betty & Liz.

"Right, uhh, thanks girls," Spider-Man said, as he fired a web-line to the ceiling.

MJ nodded warmly at the young hero. "You seem to be making a habit of saving us," MJ smirked. "Thanks for helping to catch him Spidey,"

Spider-Man lets out a familiar chuckle. "I literally didn't do anything, except shoot myself in the face," he shakes his head in embarrassment. "You girls deserve the credit for this one I think," he continued before giving the pair of girls a thumbs-up.

Gwen blushed slightly at being praised, wishing she had her mask on right now to cover her face.

"W-well, I guess we're lucky no one got hurt," Gwen added.

Spider-Man suddenly perked up at her words. "Oh shit, Ms. Harmon!"

After hearing from Spider-Man about the new lab assistant (how did he know about a new lab assistant in the school, when she's the one that's attending this school?), Gwen decided to drop by the lab as well, to check on her.

Whilst Spider-Man leapt out & swung away, Gwen asked MJ to stay with the girls, while she rushed towards the lab on feet.

After a few minutes of walking, she eventually reached the lab corridor.

As soon as she arrived, she could see Spider-Man chatting with a beautiful blonde-haired lady, which she assumed to be the lab assistant.

Seeing her long, lustrous hair, Gwen couldn't help but sighed softly, slightly jealous, as she blows her bangs out of her eyes.

Suddenly, the lady leaned over towards Spider-Man & gave him a quick peck on the cheeks.

Gwen rolled her eyes at the scene. "Men," she remarked to herself, skeptically.

After a while, the beautiful lady walked away from them, leaving Spider-Man stood there, almost fixed to the spot.

After waiting for a few secondsm Gwen decided to approach the now frozen hero.

"Ehem,"

"H-huh?" Spider-Man exclaimed, seemingly snapping out of a trance.

Gwen smiled softly at his antics. "You sure you wanna stay here, staring like a creep?" she asked jokingly.

"W-what? I wasn't-,"

Gwen lets out a small chuckle, before waving away at him.

"I was joking. God, you're such a dork," she grinned.

Spider-Man shrugged his shoulders. "Well, at least one of us is having fun with it," he offered warmly.

"Oh yeah, one of us is definitely enjoying this," she grinned.

"Dorkly Neighbourhood Spidork-Man?" he joked, which earned him a snort from Gwen.

"More or less," she smiled.

As they stood there looking at the general direction that Ms. Harmon left, Gwen turned towards the costumed hero.

"I was wondering," she started.

"Hmm? About what?"

Gwen looked up in thought as she contemplated what had just happened.

"Well, I was thinking, how did you know that Peter was the guy we fac-," Gwen quickly caught herself. "I-I mean, that he was an impostor?"

"Oh, uhh, that…, ahaha," Spider-Man seemed to laugh uncomfortably. "A… hunch?"

Gwen's eyes widened in disbelief, slightly thankful that she correctly beat up an impostor, rather than the actual Peter, based off of a random 'hunch'.

"That's messed up," Gwen shook her head in disbelief.

"A-hahaha…," Spider-Man laughed awkwardly, sounding slightly nervous. "W-well, at least he didn't get his hands on th-,"

Suddenly, Spider-Man started patting his pockets & his suit in a panic.

"Why? What's wrong?" Gwen asked.

"The drive, it's gone…,"