From the Shadows | PETER PARKER [2]

| 8 |

Eloise sent out a text to her friends to see if they all got the FaceTime as soon as Peter left in his Spider-Man suit. They all confirmed right away.

May and Eloise are standing in front of the television in the Parker's apartment, anxiously watching the news. Apparently everyone in New York got the video message that was airing live, but no one could track it down or confirm if it actually is Tony Stark tied up in the chair. There's only so much known information about what's going on, so the news reporters are basically repeating themselves every few minutes.

"The video started roughly three minutes ago. If anyone recognizes the building the video is recording in, inform authorities right away. The captor in the dark cape is unidentified. The hostage appears to be Tony Stark—"

"—But it has not been confirmed yet, we know," May murmurs as she chews her thumb nail. She glances at Eloise at her side and sets her hands on her hips. "Is Peter still in the bathroom?"

Eloise momentarily freezes, unsure how to respond. She shrugs and lies, "He's probably really worried, I mean he has actually met Mr. Stark before with the whole internship thing. I'm sure he's taking this a lot harder than most people."

When May nods, accepting the answer, Eloise internally gives herself a high-five. Her split-second of triumph is diminished as May says, "I should probably go check up on him, you know how he's been having trouble with his anxiety lately."

Eloise frowns. Apparently she isn't the only one keeping secrets. When May turns to leave the room, Eloise's eyes widen and she jumps in front of May's path, stopping her. May looks at Eloise strangely.

"I'll go check in on him," Eloise says slowly, making it up as she goes. She tries to find more to say but comes up empty handed. She ends up just giving May a strained smile before turning and leaving the living room, headed towards the bathroom.

Although it makes her feel silly, Eloise knocks on the bathroom door. She acts like she gets a response despite the room actually being empty and opens the door. Eloise feels May's worried gaze on her back, so she sighs and says to no one, "Hey, can I come in?" She pauses before entering the bathroom and shutting herself in.

She's enveloped by silence. The dripping faucet is the only sound in the small bathroom.

Well, now what? Eloise asks herself as she lets out a sigh and crosses her arms. There's literally nothing to do in this small bathroom, and if she walks out and joins May in the living room soon then May will get suspicious. Eloise has to stay in there by herself for a while to make it seem like she's actually comforting Peter. Fortunately, Eloise has her phone in her back pocket. She takes it out and sees that she has a missed call from the last person she wants to talk to—Mason.

Eloise contemplates calling him back, but decides not to. Instead, she calls Ned.

"Hey Eloise," Ned's muffled voice crackles through the speaker.

Eloise's lips curve slightly at his voice. "Hi, Ned. Look, Peter's out trying to find where Zagan is keeping Mr. Stark."

"Of course he is," Ned sighs. She could picture him rolling his eyes right about now.

Eloise leans against the bathroom door and picks at her nails absentmindedly. "Are you seeing what's going on in the video? Peter, May, and I all got out of it."