Spiderman Bites Back

Heros?

Wanda was standing by the gate, wondering where Peter was. It had only been a few minutes but she was getting impatient. She'd noticed that he tended to be late a lot but it was rude to make her wait.

She heard voices nearby and went to check if it was Peter. She was sort of right. Peter was there, but he wasn't doing too much talking.

Flash Thompson was doing most of the talking and pushing. Peter was pinned to the fence that ran alongside the school.

Peter wanted to hit back. Or tear open the fence and pretend it was an accident so that he could just run away. But he was sure that Flash wasn't going to give up that easily, and he couldn't risk revealing his identity. That would get him in trouble. So he took the blows and insults without trying to stop it.

Wanda on the other hand was already on the way to break it up.

"Hands off!" she said, grabbing Flash and discreetly using her powers to help her lift him into the air in a way that made it look like she was just physically strong.

Flash screamed. "What the f-"

Wanda tossed him in a heap on the ground, cutting him off as he'd spoken. "Stay away from Peter! Or next time I let go, it'll be from much, much higher. Understand?"

Flash nodded as he scrambled to his feet and bolted.

Wanda held out a hand to help Peter up. "Are you alright?"

He nodded, not meeting her eyes as she helped him up. He was so embarrassed that he'd looked weak. He was weak. If he was braver he'd have done something. But he wasn't Spiderman right now. He was Peter Parker.

"Thanks for the help. You're really strong!" he exclaimed.

"No problem" she was relieved that he hadn't noticed the red glow of her power.

Even though she'd only just met Peter, she felt a little protective of him since he had a similar name to her brother and had been nice to her.

"Still up to teach me?" she asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Sure" Peter said, glad that she wasn't making fun of him for being a loser.

When they made it to the apartment Peter remembered that he hadn't texted May to let her know he was bringing Wanda over. The incident with Flash had driven it completely from his mind.

Too late now, he thought, opening the door after taking a steadying breath.

Aunt May was waiting for him in the kitchen. She was handling Ben's death fairly well now compared to just a few weeks ago when she'd been feverish.

Peter had briefly worried that perhaps another spider like the one that'd bitten him had gotten May, but he knew the odds were pretty slim. Speaking of slim she was looking too thin again.

"Hey Peter, how was school?"

"It was okay. How're you doing?"

She shrugged. "I'm hanging in there. Thanks for asking though. Anything new happening?"

Peter was still tempted to tell her about his double life as Spiderman. But she was in too fragile a state to tell her. He'd give her a heart attack and then he'd be responsible for the death of his last relative. She'd barely managed when he'd been gone a whole day, and that was when... when Ben was still...maybe Peter wasn't ready either. But he did have something to report now.

"You might say that."

Aunt May glanced up and spotted Wanda, who was standing in the doorway looking a little uncomfortable.