Web Head {Peter Parker}

training wheels protocol

"Yeah?" Kennedy raised an eyebrow. "I doubt it. All he does is yell at me."

"He's just scared," repeated James softly. "He knows what being in the hero business can mean and he doesn't want you to end up like... " he trailed off, glancing down at his two completely useless legs before clearing his throat, tearing his eyes from them. "He doesn't want that life for you, Ken, he doesn't. He's just trying to be a good dad and you aren't making it easy for him."

"He doesn't understand," Kennedy retorted. "He doesn't understand anything. Maybe I'm not making it easy, but he's making it worse."

"Just try to see things from his perspective," said James. "Okay? One day an eight year old shows up on your doorstep, claiming to be your kid. Next thing you know, she's constantly trying to fight your battles, putting herself in danger all the time as she gets older. She doesn't listen to you, she shuts down things put up meant to protect her, always running around and trying to save a world that's always trying to hurt her."

"I don't... " Kennedy trailed off, curling her fingers, honestly not knowing what her answer was.

"We would all lock up the people we loved if it would keep them safe," James sighed, looking far more older than he was. "Why not try making things easier on your dad? I mean, you're already locked up, you can't save New York right now anyways. Try something new, like a school club or something."

"A school club?"

"Just try it out," said James quickly as disbelief flashed across Kennedy's face. "C'mon, make things easier on your dad for a little while. Take a break from the whole hero thing, settle down and come back to it when he's calmed down."

"I don't know," said Kennedy slowly.

"Give it a try, Ken. Just take a break."

~~~~~

"Should I smash it with the hammer?"

"What? No! Of course not! Why -- why would you even ask that?"

Pacing back and forth the empty hallways of her school, Kennedy was wearing her usual school uniform, her footsteps echoing in the large halls as she whispered into the sleek phone against her ear. The halls were completely empty, with everyone being stuck in class, however Kennedy had opted out of it, talking to Peter on her cellphone instead. With the strange piece of technology they had found the night before, Peter, not being under constant surveillance like Kennedy, had taken it to the labs of his own school with Kennedy talking him through examining it on her phone while she ditched class.

On the other end of the line, a faint hammering sound echoed, the sound of something shattering echoing through the speaker of the phone as Kennedy's eyebrows knit together, a frown forming as she tried to turn the volume of her phone up as loud as it could go.

"Parker, are you even listening to me?" Kennedy demanded. "I said no hammer!"

"Well, how else was I going to crack it open?" Asked Peter frantically from the other line, dulled noises of saws and machines in the background of the tech ed lab within his school echoing. "Oh -- uh -- hey, Ned."

"Who are you on the phone with?" The vaguely familiar voice of Ned came through the phone as he spoke to Peter. "And what's that?"

"I don't know," Kennedy heard Peter tell him. "Some guy tried to vaporize me and Kennedy with it. I'm on the phone with her right now, we're trying to figure out what it is."