My Friend Spider-Man
"I can't believe it. I can't believe it, that is so cool. My friend is Spid…"
"Ned," Peter said, cutting him off as the two of them stepped out of the bathroom.
The police cars were already outside, waiting for the order to go in, not knowing the shooters had already been taken down.
"Oh, right. Sorry. There could be cameras, right?" Ned said, glancing around the corners carefully, like someone might be listening. "But it's still amazing," Ned whispered excitedly, even though just a few minutes ago he had been in full panic because of the shooters.
"You beat them. You saved the school from shooters. That's amazing too," Ned added.
"No…" Peter said lightly. "I don't think they were actually shooters," he added.
He had already changed back into his normal clothes, with his Spider-Man suit hidden properly underneath, and of course he had grabbed his backpack. Then he opened it slightly and showed Ned the small object he had found, the one giving off way too much electrical energy for something so tiny, along with the device he had taken from one of the men earlier.
"Cool," Ned said as he immediately took the device out of Peter's hands and looked at it with interest. As a Midtown student, he couldn't help having a natural fascination with stuff like that.
And almost instantly, he took it apart with ease while Peter stared at him with a look that clearly said, seriously?
"Oh, sorry. Did you want to do it?" Ned asked. "Hey, look at this. It's an induction charger. That's how I charge my toothbrush. So this thing has to be some kind of power core," Ned added casually.
"Try not to take apart anything that looks like it came from criminals and…" Peter looked toward the core inside the device and seemed to remember something. "Drop it," he said immediately.
"What? What what?" Ned said, dropping the object to the floor at once.
"It's alien technology. I've seen it before at V.I.T.A.E. It's radioactive," Peter said quickly, while he himself dropped the object he was holding too, along with his backpack, then looked down at his hands for a moment.
"What? Radioactive?" Ned said, going pale.
"It's fine. It's only dangerous if someone is in contact with it for too long. But it's probably better if we don't touch it while I call the people who deal with this stuff," Peter said while staring at the two cores for a moment.
Then he pulled out his phone.
"Wait… did you say V.I.T.A.E.?" Ned asked, looking at his friend for a second. "Right. You said you do your internship there. So in the end, you really did get bitten by a radioactive spider there and got your powers?" Ned asked excitedly, like he personally wanted an internship there just to get powers too.
"Well… you were actually right about the spider. But I didn't get bitten at V.I.T.A.E. It happened during the Oscorp visit," Peter admitted with a slight grimace.
"So I was right! Then the spider…" Ned asked quickly, full of hope.
"It died, Ned," Peter said instantly.
"Oh, man. And Oscorp got shut down… so maybe everything got destroyed," Ned said with genuine disappointment.
"Hi, this is Peter," Peter said, ignoring his friend while speaking into the phone. "Uh… S-3 class agent, badge number 157. I have alien-origin objects at Midtown School," Peter said, and for some reason, saying those words always felt cool. "Okay, thanks," Peter said before hanging up.
Meanwhile, Ned looked at him with excitement and shining eyes, like his friend had suddenly become some kind of secret agent.
"What does S-3 class mean?" Ned asked eagerly.
Peter's expression shifted slightly into one of mild embarrassment.
"The S class is for agents with special powers. In V.I.T.A.E., that basically means superheroes," Peter said.
"Yeah, but what does the 3 mean?" Ned asked, interested.
Peter felt a little embarrassed and scratched his cheek.
"Hero in training," Peter said.
Ned nodded.
"Cool," he said, not sounding disappointed at all. After all, it still had the word hero in the title.
The police started moving into the school quickly after not hearing anything else about the shooters, advancing with their weapons drawn while checking every corner carefully.
Whenever they found students, they moved them to safety immediately, escorting them toward the exit.
Ned and Peter, who were still waiting for V.I.T.A.E., were quickly spotted, and the moment weapons were pointed at them, both of them immediately raised their hands.
"Students," the lead officer said quickly, lowering his weapon. "Are you two alright?" he asked, his tone calm and reassuring.
"Yes, sir," both of them answered right away.
"Good. Head toward the exit. Officers are securing the area. Everything will be under control soon," the officer said with a faint, friendly smile.
"Oh, yeah, of course. Thanks," they both said before moving on.
Not before giving one last glance at the objects on the ground.
The officers moved forward diligently.
Then the radio crackled.
"Section 2 here. I found one of the shooters unconscious."
"Section 7 here. We've got another one unconscious over here," another voice reported.
That made the officer who had just spoken with Peter and Ned pause for a second, a look of confusion crossing his face.
"Section 7 again. The last one is unconscious too," the same voice added.
"They said there were only three, right?" the officer asked quickly, slowing his steps slightly.
"Yes, sir," another officer behind him replied.
"I see. Then I suppose everything is under control. Still, do a full sweep just in case," he added calmly.
"Yes, sir," the officer responded before continuing the search and helping get the students to safety.
Meanwhile, the leader glanced down at the ground for a moment, noticing the backpack and the strange objects left there. He crouched slightly, about to pick them up.
But before he could, the radio came to life again.
"Sir, we have a problem," a voice said urgently from the other side.
Before the man could finish, a sudden scream cut through the transmission.
Then silence.
"Repeat, officer," the leader said quickly, his expression turning serious.
No response came back.
At the same time, a strange sound began echoing through the hallways.
Then, suddenly, gunshots rang out from inside.
A moment later, another scream followed.
The officer turned.
And then he saw it.
Something massive, with metallic wings, flying straight toward him at full speed, slicing everything in its path before he could even raise his weapon.
…
Peter stepped out of the school with Ned, while outside it was already filled with police, guiding students to safety.
Reporters had also arrived, maybe even faster than the police themselves.
The entire area was being sealed off.
Peter felt like everything was already under control. The shooters were down, and V.I.T.A.E. was on the way. There was no reason for him to stay focused on what would happen to the objects.
But before he could actually feel relieved…
The school behind him suddenly burst into flames.
Explosions echoed from inside, shattering several windows and forcing everyone nearby to duck.
Peter turned and looked at the building.
It was burning far too fast.
Too fast.
And for a brief moment, he thought he saw something come out of the flames and shoot away from the back of the building, flying at incredible speed.
"Oh no… the officers who were inside," Ned said, staring at the school as it continued to explode, while everyone knew there was no way anyone inside could survive blasts like that.
Even Peter, for a second, felt his stomach drop.
He froze.
His gaze slowly shifted back toward the direction that thing had escaped to.
But it was already gone.
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p"treon/yodarki