Us Against The World ｡ Peter Parker [2]

48 - You Are My Sunshine

Gwen gave a brief nod of her head. "Okay."

He gave her a tiny smile. "Can you do that tonight Gwen? Can you be brave for us? Be brave for Harry and Mary Jane? Can you be a hero just for a little bit?"

With Peter Parker's words, something shifted in her eyes. I couldn't quite pinpoint what was turning around in her mind, but it almost looked like Gwen Stacy had found the courage that soared in her veins, the very thing that gave her that incredible strength that I knew she had all along. She smiled ever so sweetly and in that moment, I remembered why we were friends, why we were family. She was sunshine. "Yes. I can be brave. I can be a hero." 

"You already are," I reminded her. "We all are. Just in different ways."

Cindy clapped her hands suddenly, breaking the moment. She flickered back her curtain of black hair with a wicked smirk. She truly was fearless now and it looked good on her. "All that was very sweet and touching, but are we ready now? Gotta' get this show on the road."

Together we headed inside, courage seeping into our bones. Silence stretched out around us, just five kids ready to go up against a friend who's mind was twisted with madness. We had formed our little plan; perfected it as much as we possibly could. Cindy and Peter would go in search for New Goblin and save Mary Jane as we headed down to the sub-levels where we would reboot the power system, hopefully giving the city back its light and power to call for help if things were to go sideways. 

Before Peter could sneak away from me completely, my fingertips curled around his wrist. Cindy Moon hung back a little bit, watching us with mild interest. "Don't do anything stupid. Please."

"When do I ever do anything stupid?" he asked playfully. 

I fanned out my hands against his chest, tracing the spider design on the front. "I mean it, okay? I have a terrible feeling and we know that's never good. Just...be careful. Harry's not himself and he'll be reckless. So, you know, try to get inside his head and pull our Harry out. You tackle New Goblin, so Cin can focus on Mary Jane."

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"I swear if you're about to bring up me being bossy again--"

Peter kissed my forehead lightly. "I like it. Don't worry."

Before I could even try and offer some much needed advice, he was already slipping through my my fingertips and yanking his mask over his head. I watched as he followed behind Cindy, the two of them a matching pair of heroes. The elevator doors dinged open behind me, Ned and Gwen piling inside. The last thing I saw was Peter sending one last glance over his shoulder at me before the metal doors snapped shut as we descended towards the sub levels below. 

Finding our way through the offices and labs downstairs was like a maze, the harsh florcennet lights not helping either. We had backtracked at least twice when we finally found the correct door. Ned had hurried inside, eyes scanning the huge system of backup generators. We circled around the main hub of database hardware, which practically covered the entire length of the room. A sigh escaped my lips. "This might be a little harder than I imagined."

Gwen was kneeling down, fingertips touching the cold metal and watching the tiny blinking lights with curiosity. "Who knew Stark had this kind of tech down here? He's got an entire platform of hardwired energy connected with, like everything in the city. He really is a bloody genius."

I glanced toward Ned, who had found his way towards a computer set up near the back. He was already hacking into the system, eyes glued to the screen and fingers typing against the keyboard like he belonged there. "He's a genius sure, but I've hacked into Pete's suit once before, this shouldn't be too difficult..."