NEXT LEVEL|PETER PARKER (2)

1.6

"That is correct. Midtown takes the championship," The lady said and they all cheered and hugged Michelle. Michelle even smiled at their reaction.

-

After the decathlon, they walked across the street to the Washington Monument. "We won," Flash cheered.

"You guys, I am so proud of you," Liz smiled at them.

"Told you we didn't need Peter."

"Flash, you didn't answer a single question," Ned reminded him.

"Not to mention, you're an ass," Jessie added in and before he could make a flirty joke about it, she covered his mouth with her hand. "Make a single dirty joke and you'll wish you never met me," She looked into his eyes. Flash was making all of the dirty jokes in his head anyway so Jessie backed away from him.

Jessie followed the rest of the group into the monument, leaving behind Michelle who stayed behind due to her distaste for buildings being celebrated when they were built by slaves. Jessie wanted to join her, but Michelle told her she didn't want to ruin the fun and pushed her toward the group.

"Peter, are you okay?" Ned asked into his phone. "The glowy thing? It's safe. It's in my backpack. You missed the decathlon. I covered for you!" Jessie frowned at Ned when she realized who he was on the phone with and took the phone from his hands. "We're at the Washington Monument," He rushed out before Jessie held the phone to her ear.

"Peter, is that you?" She asked into the phone.

"Hey, Jess."

"Is that Jess?" Karen, Peter's suit modulator asked. Peter ignored her.

"Put Ned back on the phone."

"You should tell her how you feel," Karen told him.

"Don't tell me what do, you flake. You are so lucky we won. Ugh, I want to be mad, but I'm more worried. Did you catch the guy that threw you in the lake?" Jessie asked quietly so no one else could hear her.

"Jess, I have to talk to Ned. It's important," Peter said through the phone.

"All items on the belt, please," The security guard said and Jessie placed the phone in the security belt as Peter explained.

"There's something in Ned's backpack. It's dangerous. Don't let it go through x-ray. Jess? Jess! Damn it," He ran faster toward the monument.

Ned took his phone off the conveyor belt and saw the call between him and Peter had ended so he shoved the phone into his pocket and entered the elevator with the rest of the students and Mr. Harrison.

"Hey, Mr. Harrison. Can I be the one to tell Peter he's expelled?" Flash asked and earned an elbow to the ribs by Jessie. The elevator started moving up and the tour guide began to speak.

"The Washington Monument is 555 feet, five and one-eighth inches tall. Notice how the marble and granite are cut around the stone," She informed them with a bored expression and monotone voice. A whizzing sound followed and a bright light from Ned's book bag lasered the roof of the elevator and stretched to the top.

Peter had just approached the Monument and saw the top of the structure had cracked and grew worried. "No, no, no. Karen, what's going on up there?"

"The Chitauri core has detonated and caused severe structural damage to the elevator," She explained as he looked at it.

"Oh, no."

"My friends are up there," Michelle shouted.

"What?" Peter freaked out and turned toward her before realizing his slip up. "Don't worry, ma'am, everything's gonna be okay." He turned away from her and ran through the crowd of people. "Oh, my God, that's tall," He said before jumping onto the monument.

"Oh, my God. Look at the ceiling," Flash said as they all switched their gaze from Ned's backpack to the ceiling that had a line of melted metal going through it.

"Just stay calm, everyone," Liz told them.

"Oh, we are all going to die here," The Ghanaian boy stated.

"Ned, what the hell?" Jessie said through clenched teeth.

"What?"

"What could be in your back pack that could cause something like that?" She pointed up to the ceiling. She read his thoughts to find out that it was the stolen power source from one of the weapons that was used against Peter. "Are you crazy? Why would you keep something like that with you?!" She whispered harshly.

"What do you mean?" He asked as if he had no idea what she was talking about. He didn't realize she was getting all of her information from his mind so he was genuinely confused.

"We're freaking screwed," One of the boys said.

"Okay, I know that was scary, but our safety systems are working," The tour guide reassured everyone. "We're very safe in here."

She lifted the emergency evacuation hatch at the top of the elevator and everyone started to get lifted out. A few of them were able to reach safety and all that was left was Jessie, Liz, Mr, Harrison, Ned, and Flash.

"Okay, who's next?"

"Me, it's my turn," Flash pushed everyone out of the way and moved toward the exit hatch.

"Flash, seriously?" Jessie asked as she watched him hold onto the trophy as if it were his child and climb out of the elevator.

"Sorry, beautiful," He called down to her.

"Don't worry about the trophy," Liz told him.

"Take my trophy," Flash called out and handed it to the guard as they tried to pull him up.

The last bit of metal keeping them from going anywhere broke and the elevator began plummeting to the ground. That was until Spiderman finally broke into the Monument and shot his web out to catch the elevator and it pulled him toward the door frame where he pulled it up.

Then the door frame gave way because the glass couldn't hold that much weight and Peter began falling after them. The elevator was caught by metal beams until Peter, or Spiderman, made impact with the floor of the elevator.

The elevator started plummeting again until Peter shot his webs to the top of a metal bearing and flipped upside down to put pressure on the ceiling of the elevator so that they would no longer fall. Peter cleared his throat before coming up with the most awful Queen's accent Jessie had heard in her life.

"Hey, how you doing? Don't worry. I got you," He reassured them.

"Yes! Yes," Ned cheered and jumped up and down.

"Hey, hey, hey. Big guy, quit moving around," Peter said as he pulled them up slowly.

"I'm so sorry, sir," Ned apologized and contained his excitement.

"Alright. This is your stop," Peter said as the elevator doors opened and everyone started to get out. The ceiling began to give way beneath Peter's feet and before Jessie could reach Liz and Mr. Harrison's hands, the ceiling was ripped away from Peter.

"Jess!" Peter shouted and Jessie screamed as the elevator began falling again, but Peter shot his webbing around her arm and she was left dangling. "You're okay. You're okay," Peter assured her, Jessie knew he was freaking out as much as she was. His thoughts were louder than his speech.

Jessie was at a loss for words. She hadn't been saved by Peter since Germany. He pulled her up and the guards grabbed her arms and helped her onto the floor. Liz hugged her and Jessie accepted before quickly turning away to see Peter.

"You guys good? So is everyone okay?" He asked with his terrible Queen's accent.

"This is your chance, Peter. Kiss her," Karen told him through his suit and Jessie watched him with hope and gratitude in her eyes.

His web suddenly broke and he fell down into the dusty abyss that was the elevator.

"Thank you," Mr. Harrison called after him. Then Flash leaned over the floor with the trophy in hand to ask the only question that was on his mind when he saw Spiderman.

"Are you really friends with Peter Parker?!"