Chapter 25

"Umm, hello?" Peter asked softly as he entered.

"Peter!" MJ waved towards him as she saw him enter the crowded hallway, trying to catch his attention.

As Peter made his way through the crowd of policeman & onlooking students ('Man, this was a pretty big mess huh?') he quickly took note of the 'Mary Janes' and Mr. Modell, seemingly being questioned by a stern-faced, young, Asian lady who's commanding presence more than made up for her slight frame.

"Sir? You called for me?"

Mr. Modell turned to face him, scratching his moustache, looking slightly uncertain.

"Peter, righ-,"

"Peter Parker?" the Asian lady quickly cuts him off. "Inspector Watanabe," she introduced herself firmly. "I needed to ask you a few things about the case just now,"

"O-oh, ok. I'll help with whatever I can ma'am," Peter smirked slightly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Right," Inspector Watanabe stone-faced expression remained plastered across her face. "Are you familiar with these young ladies?" she gestured towards the 4 girls, grinning at the side.

"Ye-,"

"Right, these 4 just took down someone who's very…, interesting to us, to say the least," she frowned slightly, her stone-face expression breaking ever so slightly before returning to her face.

"While we have 'Spider-Man' to thank for this mess," Inspector Watanabe frown deepened as she addressed the super-hero with apparent disdain. "What's done is done, and the guy is caught, so that's that,"

"O-oh?! Spider-Man was here?! W-wow!" Peter said quickly, feigning ignorance.

"Ookaay…," Inspector Watanabe raised her eyebrow at Peter's over-eagerness with his answer. "Anyway, this person here is a very dangerous criminal, and he's able to impersonate anyone he's met almost flawlessly with this mask of his,"

"Oh, okay," Peter nodded along with her explanation.

"When he was caught, these 4 ladies told me that he was disguised as you, Mr. Parker, at the time," Inspector Watanabe continued in a matter-of-fact tone. "Care to explain that?"

"Oh," Peter nodded, finally understanding what the inspector needed him for. "we, uhh, we kinda bumped into each other at Prof. Warren's lab,"

"Professor Warren?" the inspector paused for a few moments, tapping her stylus on the digital notepad in her hand. "Miles Warren? The one that was involved in the so-called 'monster' attack last week?"

"W-well, yea-,"

"Well, now, Prof. Warren wasn't directly involved with the, 'Monster' attack," Mr. Modell cuts into the conversation to correct the inspector. "Only his lab was, involved I mean," he snickered slightly.

The Inspector's face frowned for a few moments. "Yes, I suppose," she mouthed softly, frowning even deeper as she seemingly tries to piece the situation together. "But I was under the impression that Mr. Warren hasn't shown up over the last couple of days?"

Mr. Modell stroked his beard, looking up thoughtfully. "Well, yes, he did request for an extended period of leave, and I don't believe he was due back anytime soon,"

"Then why are you here then…," Peter hears the inspector mouthing softly as she turned towards the Chameleon. She then turned towards Peter, her eyes staring at him intensely. "Wait, why were you there then?" she questioned Peter.

"Hm?" Peter blinked back, slightly taken aback by the inspector's stare. At this moment, Peter noticed Mr. Modell & Gwen(?) narrowing their eyes towards him, seeming quite interested at his answer.

"I-uh, well I kinda met Ms. Harmon?" Peter said, hoping this explains his involvement with the case. "His new lab assistant?"

Peter noticed Gwen nodding softly behind the group. However, to his surprise, Mr. Modell continued to stare at him, his frown seemingly deepening after his answer.

"A new hire?" Inspector Watanabe turned towards Mr. Modell.

"No," Mr. Modell shook his head. "I've never heard of this Ms. Harmon,"

"What?"

"Huh?" Gwen accidentally lets out from behind the group, causing everyone's attention to turn towards her.

"Then who was-," Peter's mind raced with the realization, as he tries to figure out what's happening. "Gwen, you saw her too, right?"

"Y-yeah," Gwen hesitated, slightly taken aback by the sudden attention. "I saw her when I was… catching up… with Spider-Man…," she said slowly, as she looked back towards Peter.

Peter stared back, not understanding why she was looking back at him.

"O-oh!" Peter said with a start, as he catches on to the problem. "W-well, I uhh, I saw your reaction, so I figured you must've met her as well," Peter said, smiling awkwardly at Gwen.

Gwen quickly turned away when he flashed her his goofy grin. "I-I see,"

Inspector Watanabe turned towards Peter and then Gwen, before shaking her head and turning back towards Peter. "Continue," she said in a commanding tone.

"Huh? Oh, you mean why I went to Prof. Warren's lab?" Peter said, slightly flustered. "W-well, I met Ms. Harmon, and she was asking for directions to the lab," Peter explained. "When we got there, we didn't think Prof. Warren would be back yet, because of the incident with Spider-Man,"

Inspector Watanabe continued noting down on her notebook, gesturing Peter to continue whenever he paused to look at her.

"But when she was about to enter, suddenly Prof. Warren came out. Or at least we thought it was him, but it was apparently this guy, disguised as him," Peter gestured towards the cuffed up Chameleon.

"He was disguised…, as the professor?" Inspector Watanabe looked up from her notepad.

"W-well, uhm, y-yeah I guess," Peter hesitated. At the same time, Peter couldn't help but feel overly conscious of the stares everyone around him was giving him.

"Woah, I thought our day as interesting," Betty quipped under her breath.

Inspector Watanabe continued tapping at her notepad, something Peter realized she seems to do when she's thinking.

"Did you realize that he wasn't the real professor?" she continued to question him.

"N-no, not really," Peter shook his head. "Like you said, his disguise was flawless. He talked the same way, walked the same way, there was virtually no way to tell,"

"Wait, then how did you figure out he was an impostor?" Glory suddenly asked. Inspector Watanabe shot her a quick look, that caused her to whimper slightly. "S-sorry, I was curious was all,"

Inspector Watanabe lets out a soft sigh before turning back towards Peter. "Answer her question,"

"O-oh, right. Well, uhm, I don't know actually. Something funny happened at the time," Peter continued, only realizing the suspicious nature of the situation he was in, now that he's recounting it. "Well, he was trying to shoo us away, at the time, I thought it was just Prof. Warren being grumpy. But for some reason, Ms. Harmon kept ignoring him & that seemed to make him even angrier. And then-," Peter debated for a few moments whether to include the detail of Ms. Harmon's words, before ultimately deciding he himself wasn't sure what she said. "And then, well, he kept insisting we leave him, but when we were about to leave, he suddenly threw, like, a concussion bomb at us,"

"What?!" MJ & Gwen both said simultaneously, a look of surprise & concern plastered across their face.

Suddenly the Inspector quickly grabbed Peter's face, and to his surprise, stretched his eyes open.

Peter froze in place, unsure of what's happening, or what he's supposed to do.

She stared directly into his eyes for a few moments, before turning his head to the sides, and eventually letting him go.

"Any nausea? Headache or flashes in your view," she said firmly.

"N-no," Peter said truthfully, slightly taken aback, but understanding what the Inspector was trying to do. "I-I got lucky, we didn't get hit with it directly,"

"Johnson!" Inspector Watanabe quickly turned towards one of her officers. "Get over to that lab, I want a perimeter on there, and full scan of the place," she ordered, before turning towards Mr. Modell. "Sir, I believe there may be something of value in that lab. I believe you have no issue with us confiscating whatever we find is of interest to the case?"

Mr. Modell blinked back in surprise before regaining his composure. "C-certainly, we will give you our full co-operation," he said quickly. "Whatever we can do to help,"

The inspector nodded towards one of her officers, and then turned her attention back towards Peter. "We have a medic team on standby outside, we'll have you checked for further injuries after this," she continued.

"N-no, it's okay. I feel fine ma'am," he smiled reassuringly.

The inspector returned his smile with a cold glare of her own. "That wasn't an offer,"

"Well, there doesn't seem like anything's wrong with you, young man," the medic said with a smile after giving Peter a brief check-up. "Count yourself lucky, not a lot of people got away scot-free from a bomb, eh?" he continued with a chuckle.

"Ye-,"

"I doubt luck can help you survive a direct M84 blast and walk it off like nobody's business," Inspector Watanabe suddenly cuts into the conversation, holding what seems to be broken pieces of metal in a Ziploc plastic bag.

Peter turned his attention towards the cross-looking inspector. "Insp-,"

"This here is a military-grade stun grenade, used by the U.S. Army or S.W.A.T. division," she said while shoving the bag of scrap metal towards Peter. "a direct blow from this have left people with temporary blindness, or worse, rupturing of the eardrums," she said, glaring at Peter.

"I-,"

"That means, permanent deafness," the inspector continued, her eyes still firmly locked onto Peter. "Now unless this was a dud, or there was a different grenade used earlier, that was somehow, much, much, weaker, and somehow miraculously disappeared into thin air when we got there, you've got some explaining to do young man,"

"I-I, w-well-," Peter stuttered for a few moments, struggling to come up with an explanation. Just as he was at a loss for words, suddenly, a familiar man popped up from behind them.

"With all due respect Yuri, I don't think pressing the kid is what we should focusing on doing right now,"

Peter turned towards the familiar voice and was greeted with a warm smile from Capt. Stacy.

Inspector Watanabe turned back to look at the man, with a mix of surprise & annoyance.

"George?"

"I came by as soon as I heard the news," George explained himself. "I heard my daughter was involved, so I thought I'd drop by," he continued, a hint of worry & nervousness laced in his voice.

Yuri Watanabe crossed her arms, frowning slightly, before letting out a soft sigh, and gesturing towards the school building.

"She's in the hallway with Saunders," she explained, before a small smile crept onto her face. "Involved? More like she took the guy down, and handed him to us on a silver platter," she continued, a hint of pride in her voice.

George momentarily frowned before shaking his head. "Well, the important thing is, everyone's okay now," he sighed. "Although that's the second case that's happened at this school in about as many days,"

"Yeah, I was thinking to place an additional unit, see if anymore leads pops out," Inspector Yuri said while tapping away at her notepad. "Currently, we've secured the lab. Johnson's leading the search. Hopefully we'll find something that can shed some light on the situation,"

George nodded along, before turning towards Peter. "Well, I know this young man personally Yuri, and I can vouch that he's about as suspicious as a newborn kitten," he said, before patting Peter on the back.

Inspector Yuri lets out a soft sigh before turning towards the pair. "I'm not saying he's suspicious. I just wanted t-,"

"Well in that case, then we should be fine then, right?" George said with a smile. "Don't' worry too much Yuri, I've got this," he assured her. "And isn't your attention better off being placed elsewhere? Like with the actual criminal, for example?"

Inspector Yuri rolled her eyes at the middle-aged man before taking out a notebook and shoving it to him.

"I want a report, on my table, this evening. I want to know every detail of what happened to him in that lab, understand?" she said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Yes ma'am, will do," George said with a smile.

As the inspector started to leave them, Peter turned towards George. "Thanks Mr. Stacy,"

George smiled warmly towards Peter. "Well, she always was a bit intense," he chuckled.

Peter nodded slowly, not knowing what to do. "Inspector Watanabe, does that mean she's your boss or something?"

George shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Eh, superior. She used to be my protégé," he continued with a smirk. "She's always been a much better cop than I am though,"

After a brief questioning by Capt. Stacy, and Peter recounting everything he had already said towards Inspector Watanabe, Peter eventually made his way back to his classroom. Now, finally getting some time alone with his thoughts, Peter's mind raced with the implication of what he had learned today.

He had suspected that Ms. Harmon was involved somehow with the disappearance of the drive, but what he had heard from Mr. Modell and Inspector Watanabe confirms it.

'The Chameleon did mention about 'the Owner'. If Daredevil was right, then this 'Chameleon' guy is probably on the same side with 'the Hand' and Kingpin. But they were trying to steal it, so that means there's another party, the original owner, that's involved in this,' Peter sorted things out in his head while making his way back to his class.

'Ms. Harmon's not on the same side with Chameleon, so unless there's a third party involved in this, she's probably working with the owner. But that means they're just getting back what was originally theirs, no? That's not exactly a crime…,' Peter mulled. 'But how did they know the drive was here? I only let slip that info to the Chameleon, and I doubt they'd tell the owner where the drive they stole is at,"

'Does that mean Ms. Harmon wasn't here for the drive? Why was she here then? She was disguised as Prof. Warren's assistant though…, so does that mean, that what she originally came here for was in his lab? Is the drive and the Jackal connected?'

Just as he was on auto-pilot towards his class, being pre-occupied with his thoughts, Peter didn't realize the pair of eyes that was following him, nor did he realize when the owner of said eyes started following him towards his class.

'But there's no way to know this now that I've lost the drive,' Peter's face frowned with frustration. 'How am I supposed to explain this to Daredevil?' he sighed softly.

Just as he was about to enter his class, the young lady that was following him suddenly grabbed him and dragged him to a nearby staircase, startling Peter slightly with her determined look.

"L-liz? What's wrong?" Peter addressed her.

Liz glared daggers at him, causing Peter to hesitate for a moment, as he racks his brain to think if he had missed something.

"D-did I miss a training session again?" Peter asked, slightly uncertain.

Liz continued glaring at him for a few moments. "Don't play dumb with me Parker, I know who you are," she said slowly.

Peter blinked in confusion for a few moments. "I'm… Peter?"

Liz suddenly slammed her hands on the wall right next to Peter's face, before holding up 4 fingers in front of his face.

"Numero Uno, Spider-Man immediately figured out Peter Parker was fake earlier," Liz exclaimed, while putting one of her fingers down as she counts them down.

"No. 2, both the incidents with the green monster, and now this 'imposter villain' guy, both times, Spider-Man was involved, both times you were involved as well,"

"Third, 'Web-Shooters'! I knew I heard that from somewhere, it was you!" she continued, her voice rising in confidence as she continues.

"And lastly, the drive!" she exclaimed triumphantly, before patting Peter's pockets. "Where is it Parker, I saw you flash it in front of that 'Chameleon' guy or whatever," Liz exclaimed furiously.

"W-what drive?" Peter blurted, panicking as Liz continued to search him. "Liz, stop, hey!" he continued, before grabbing her by the arms to stop her. "You can't start putting your hands in a guy's pockets like that!"

Liz blinked in surprise momentarily, blushing slightly, before regaining her confidence. "T-that doesn't matter! The drive, I know you have it with you!"

"What drive?" Peter continued to feign ignorance, sweating profusely as he feels his heart beating furiously knowing what Liz was accusing him of.

"Don't play dumb with me Parker," Liz hissed. "The drive you & Ned were working on. That drive that the Chameleon guy came to steal. I know you have it with you, I saw you with it earlier,"

"I don't have the drive with me!" Peter exclaimed. "T-that was some shared porn between me & Ned, why would I have it with me?" Peter made up an excuse in his panicky state.

Liz blushed again for a moment, before regaining her bravado. "I don't believe you. Empty your pockets,"

"What?!"

"U-unless you want me to search you again, empty your pockets right here, right now!" Liz said firmly, blushing slightly.

Peter started to argue, but thought better of it when he saw how determined Liz was.

"Fine, there," Peter replied, as he started to empty his pockets, relieved in the knowledge that the drive was lost earlier.

As Peter emptied his pockets one-by-one, Liz's look of confidence slowly faltered as he shows that he indeed does not have the drive in question.

"N-no. But I saw you with the drive," Liz mouthed. "Take off your sweater!"

"What?!" Peter said in disbelief.

"You heard me Parker," Liz said, trying to sound confident. "You might've hidden it in one of your shirt pockets,"

"Liz, it's a T-Shirt, there's n-,"

"Sweater off!" Liz demanded, slight doubt creeping into her voice.

Peter hesitated for a few moments, knowing his web-shooters on his wrist would be visible if he took off his sweater.

After a few moments, Peter decided to just lift up his sweater, to show Liz there wasn't any additional pockets on his T-Shirt, hoping this would be enough to deter her.

"There? You done now?" Peter said as he pulled his sweater back down. "What are you on about?"

"B-but, that's impossible. I saw you waving the drive earlier…," Liz voice slowly lost its conviction.

"N-no, I left that USB drive at home, since yesterday," he bluffed. "I-it's on my laptop still, you know," he continued, blushing slightly.

"B-but then," Liz mouthed softly. "Spidey's…,"

"A-and, what were you saying about some shooters?" Peter continued, deciding to go on the attack now that he sees Liz was faltering.

"W-well, I was just… well I remembered you saying something about, uhh, web-shooters…," Liz said softly.

"U meant my tape shooters?" Peter continued to bluff.

"Oh yeah, you did say it was tape shooters," Liz said slowly.

"Y-yeah," Peter tried to sound as confident as he could, feeling like his heart was about to jump out of his chest at that moment. "Y-you know?" he blurted out of nowhere.

Luckily, at that moment, Liz was already deep in her own thoughts.

"And you weren't exactly involved with the monster thing actually, and the imposter looked like you, but, that doesn't mean anything," she mouthed softly.

"Y-yeah, exactly!" Peter exclaimed excitedly. "And, uhh, I told the Inspector that I met the guy when I was heading down the lab," Peter added. "That's miles away from you guys. R-right?" he laughed awkwardly. "Y-you can ask the Gwen & the others,"

Liz hesitated for a few moments, looking at Peter guiltily, before suddenly smiling awkwardly at him.

"Hehe, well," she continued smiling exaggeratedly. "It was a joke, haha!" she laughed awkwardly. "Got you! Ahaha!"

Peter laughed along nervously & awkwardly. "Y-yeah, got me. Haha,"

Liz bit her lips, while gesturing pointlessly with her hands. "I was, just, you know, that, uhm, joking, haha. Not like, you're, you know," she rambled along. "Coz that's impossible, you know? Impossible, right? Hehe,"

Peter continued laughing along, feeling slightly safe, now that Liz seems to have calmed down. "Y-yeah, sure. Right, you are Liz,"

"Right, w-well, that's embarrassing," Liz blushed, while laughing, and backing away towards the door. "N-not that it was supposed to be embarrassing, you know, coz it's a joke, right?" she continued laughing nervously.

Peter just smiled nervously, giving her a thumbs up, himself unsure of how he was supposed to respond,

"Right. I, uhh, I should leave right now," Liz said before starting to head towards the door. She then turned back towards Peter just before she left.

"Uhm Peter, keep this between us?"

"S-sure," Peter smiled awkwardly.

"Err, r-right," she nodded nervously. "G-got you! Right?" she laughed.

"Yep, you sure did," Peter beamed.

"O-ok," she said as she opened the door to leave. "Oh, and Peter, err, have you been working out?"

Peter sat down at his seat, letting out a long, tired sigh. He turned towards Liz who was also looking at him with the side of her eyes.

Just when he noticed they made eye-contact, Liz immediately pretended to focus on her books, blushing slightly as she did so.

Peter looked down at his shoes, his hands still trembling at the fear of being found out just now. He closed his eyes, and lets out another long sigh to try & calm himself down.

Ned, who was sat right next to him, poked him at the ribs. "You okay man?" he whispered softly.

Peter looked up at his friend, and smiled warmly. "Y-yeah, everything's fine,"

He then tried to turn his focus back towards the class at hand. After a while, he turned back towards Ned, and poked him back.

"Hey, Ned?

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry man, but I lost that drive we were working on," Peter said, regretfully, expecting Ned to turn to him with disappointment.

However, Ned suddenly turned & smiled awkwardly towards him. "R-really? That's a shame," he said slowly, worried that the teacher might catch them. "W-well, too bad then, not like we made any backup or anything right?" he laughed nervously.

Peter raised his eyebrow, slightly confused by his friend's reaction. "Yeah…, I guess,"

*tingle*

Peter instinctively moved his head backwards, as a duster came flying right where his head had been a few moments earlier.

"I'm surprised you managed to avoid that Mr. Parker," Ms. Marconi said, sounding slightly impressed. "But next time, if you keep talking in my class, I won't miss," she continued.

Just as Peter was rubbing his head, feeing slightly guilty, he felt the class's attention was on him.

"Whoa! that was an epic dodge!"

"That was nut… Is he a ninja?"

And just like that, he felt his *CHARM* increase slightly.