🕷
That feeling Gwen had – about Peter being fine – was sort of correct. In one sense, he wasn't particularly injured, just a mild concussion. In the other, more prominent sense, he was stuck inside the most secure facility on the Eastern Seaboard: the Damage Control Deep Storage Vault.
Concrete made up the whole thing – floor, walls, ceiling, doors. Large lights hung overheard, shining the place with ample lighting. Stacks upon stacks of containers laid together and, well, stacked. All of which had some sort of labeling on it, identifying the container and its contents in which it was carrying.
The plan of the vulture dude hijacking some trucks was foiled by Peter, but while doing so, he got stuck in one of the trucks through some kind of matter phase shifter thingy.
Peter's first thought was to pry open the large, concrete doors with his bare hands. That didn't work. At all.
"The door will most likely remain closed until morning," the suit's AI said. The voice was female and had a very robotic aspect of it, which made sense, given as it was an AI.
"Morning?" Peter repeated, disappointed as he kicked the cement lightly. A few minutes later, he constructed a hammock made of webs between two containers. "Hey, suit lady, I kind of feel bad calling you 'suit lady', you know? I think I should probably give you a name. . . like Liz." Immediately, he shook his head. "No, no, no, God, that's-that's weird. What about Gwen? No, that's even worse."
A few more minutes later, he was swinging around on a web, still trying to think of a suitable (pun not intended) name for the suit. He let go and plopped on the cement ground.
"What about Karen?" he tried out.
"You can call me Karen if you would like," the suit's AI, now named Karen, replied.
A few more, more minutes later, he was hanging upside down on another web that was between his feet. He was reading a Spanish textbook he had in his backpack. "Hey, Karen, what else can this suit do?" The suit's underarms sprouted little wings on both sides, making the Spider-Man turn into a Flying-Squirrel-Man. "What?" he gasped in surprise.
A few more, more, more minutes later, he put on his sweatshirt and yellow decathlon blazer.
The Spider-Man logo was projected on the cement wall. The vivid red standing out from the gray. "Maybe we should run that refresher course," Peter said. A setting called 'Ricochet web' was set. He shot it, and like the name said, it ricocheted off the wall and went flying back. It would've hit him if he didn't duck. "Whoa! Cool."
A few more, more, more, more minutes later, the wall was covered in all sorts of spiderwebs. Webs like 'Splitter web', 'Web grenade', 'Taser web', and 'Ricochet web' were all tested on the poor wall. Peter did a few little jump rope tricks with a rope he made out of webs.
A few more, more, more, more, more minutes later, Peter laid on the roof of the container he was trapped in. "Should I tell Liz that I'm Spider-Man?" he wondered out loud.
"Who is Liz?" Karen asked.
A fond smile formed on Peter's face. "'Who is Liz?' She's. . . heh, she's the best. She's awesome. She, uh, she's just a girl who goes to my school. And, uh. . . yeah, I just. . . I really want to tell her, but it's kind of weird, you know? 'Hey, I'm-I'm Spider-Man'."
"What's weird about that?"
"What if she's expecting someone like Tony Stark? I mean, imagine how disappointed she'd be when she sees me."
"Well, if I were her, I wouldn't be disappointed at all."
"Thanks, Karen. It's nice to have somebody to talk to," Peter said. He liked someone to talk to, someone that could understand him. Sure, there was Gwen, but he only knew her for a few weeks. It would've been good to talk to her as she would be able to understand all his problems, Gwen being a spider too and all. "Hey, how long have we been here anyways?"
"Thirty-seven minutes."
"What?!" Peter bolted upright on the container's roof. "Thirty-seven minutes? That's insane! I cannot take this anymore. I gotta. . . I gotta get out of here." He rolled onto his back and pushed off the metal and landed on the ground perfectly. He sighed and took off his two jackets before going into the container he got trapped in. "There's gotta be something in here I can use." He opened the duffle bag he took from the Vulture dude. "Okay, let's see what we got. Nope." He tossed out a wheel-shaped piece of metal. Next was an Ultron head. "That's awesome." He dropped it, the metal from the head clanging loudly against the metal of the container. Peter then picked up the same purple-glowy thing he, Ned, and Gwen discovered. "Ah, hey, it's like the glowy thing."
"That 'glowly thing' is an explosive Chitauri energy core," informed Karen.
Peter dropped the thing like it was a hot potato, except this was much worse than a hot potato. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! You mean, we've been carrying around a bomb?" He took a few safety steps back from the purple glowly thing – sorry, explosive Chitauri energy core.
"It would require radiation to transform it into an explosive state," Karen told him, but that didn't do anything to ease his worry.
He scrambled to find his phone from the blazer's jacket pocket. He clicked Ned's contact to call him, tell him where he was, and help him get out, but it failed. He then tried Gwen, but that also didn't go through.
He quickly exited the container's broken doors (courtesy of himself) and shot two basic webs at the doors of the storage facility. He landed on it and banged his fist against the wall. "Hey! Please! Please, somebody, let me out! Hey!" He then looked over to see a panel of sort on the side. "Karen, you have to help me override that time lock."
A few more, more, more, more, more, more minutes later, Peter was hanging upside down like earlier, his feet pressed together at the soles around a string of web. He pried open the door of the control panel and hooked up his graphing calculator to the motherboard. A notepad and pen in his hand, he tried a combination of numbers.
"Okay, Karen. Lower the voltage and run it," Peter ordered.
"Trial unsuccessful," reported Karen.
"Okay, we're just gonna have to try every sequence." Peter crossed out another sequence of numbers from his notepad.
A few more hours later, actually, Peter was getting tired. The masks' eyes blinked slowly as the eyes underneath blinked slowly to rid the exhaustion from them.
"Initiating trial 247," Karen said.
A beeping sound was made when, suddenly, the concrete doors opened up.
Peter was free!
"It worked! It works!" he cheered before shoving everything back into his backpack and swinging out. Getting a ride on top of another transport truck, he was headed his way to the Academic Decathlon.
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"Ned," Gwen hissed in a hush voice, "where the hell is Peter?"
"I don't know!" he exclaimed in the same volume.
The Academic Decathlon was getting underway: People were filing into the auditorium in which it was set at, students from other schools were getting ready backstage.
Ned and Gwen both handed their cell phones to a few volunteers outside the auditorium.
Gwen noticed a familiar glow of the purple glowly thing emitting from Ned's blazer pocket. "You brough it?" she asked.
"Peter said to keep it safe, so that's what I'm doing!" he defended.
People from Midtown and its competing school walked on stage. A few random claps sounded through the place.
Ned, Gwen, MJ, Liz, and (unfortunately) Flash were all seated in plastic chairs at the Midtown table.
So far, Midtown had been doing wonderful so far; each student answering questions correctly and quickly. Mr. Harrington was in the front row, grinning from ear to ear and giving supportive thumbs-up to everyone.
"We have now entered sudden death," the moderator announced, her voice sounding through the speakers in the place. She was an older Asian lady who had to step on a box behind the podium in order to look over it. "The next correct answer wins the championship. What is the cosine of pi over two?" she asked.
MJ, who sat between Gwen and Ned, hit her red button in front of her.
"Midtown Tech?" the moderator asked.
MJ's bored and impassive look never wavered when she answered, "Zero."
"That is correct! Midtown takes the championship!"
Gwen immediately crushed MJ into a hug, Ned joining, soon followed by the rest of the team piling on. MJ smiled for the first time throughout the whole competition. Cheers are heard throughout the auditorium, the loudest from Mr. Harrington who had started to cry tears of joy.
The group of winning students walked to the Washington Monument which was situated directly across the auditorium.
Everyone on the team got some medals to wear around their neck.
"We won!" Charlie cheered, throwing an arm over Gwen's shoulder.
Gwen was in such a happy state, she didn't shrug him off.
"You guys," Liz said, fondly, looking around at everyone, "I am so proud of you."
"Told you we didn't need Peter," Flash stated. The trophy was in his hands as he refused to part with it. If he could, he would marry the damn thing.
"Flash," Ned said, suppressing a sigh, "you didn't answer a single question."
Everyone left to go inside the Washington Monument. MJ refused to go in, already to have told Gwen the reason why. So, the blonde said a 'see you later' to her friend before being dragged off by Charlie.
"Taking it all in, Michelle?" Mr. Harrington asked.
She cringed at her name but didn't let it show in her face. She nodded absentmindedly. "Oh, yeah, I just. . . um, I don't want to celebrate something that was built by slaves." After the competition, she took off the obnoxious yellow blazer and tied it around her waist, the medal the same.
"Oh." Mr. Harrington looked a little awkward. "I'm sure the Washington Monument wasn't built by-" he turned to a nearby park ranger who waved his hand in a so-so motion, confirming MJ's words. "Okay, well, uh, enjoy your book," Mr. Harrington awkwardly bid and left.
"Thanks."
In the monument, Charlie let go of Gwen's shoulder to put his things through an airport checkpoint that used radiation to check the contents of a bag without ever having to open it. Honestly, it was quite brilliant on whoever made this part. It got more use after a few bad people crashed a few planes.
Gwen stood next to Ned who answered his phone.
"Oh, Ned, you're alive!" Peter breathed out heavily while on top a bus that was traveling towards the monument.
"Peter?" Ned said, whispering as he did do. He shared the speaker and microphone of the phone with Gwen, her leaning in to get a clearer understanding. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Ned, Ned, where's the glowly thing? The glowy thing?"
"Don't worry, it's safe; it's in my backpack," Ned assured, putting his backpack on the conveyer belt thing for an x-ray security scan. After all, can't have people bring in dangerous things into a monument built for the United States first president, right?
"No, Ned, listen! No, no-" Peter hurried out while still trying to catch his breath.
"You missed the decathlon. Me and Gwen had to cover for you."
"Ned, listen to me!"
"We're at the Washington Monument now. You gotta-"
A hand comes in and takes the phone right between Gwen and Ned's face. "Peter, is that you?" Liz asked into Ned's phone.
"Oh, hey, Liz," Peter simply greeted.
"Is that Liz?" Karen asked.
Peter jumped off the bus he was riding on, rolling on the ground before taking off, sprinting down the road towards the monument.
"Please put Ned back on the phone!" pleaded Peter.
"You should tell her how you feel," said Karen, quite unhelpfully.
"You freak! You are so lucky we won," Liz said into the phone. "You know, I want to be mad, but I'm more worried. Like, what is going on with you?"
Ned and Gwen passed the metal detector.
Now at the Lincoln Memorial, Spider-Man is running towards the Washington Monument down the side of the lake between the two. "Liz, I have to talk to Ned. It's really important!"
"Miss," a security guard called out, "all items on the belt, please."
Liz didn't hang up on the phone, she just placed it on the belt.
Peter's voice came out quietly as it went under the x-ray. "Liz, there's something in Ned's backpack! It's really dangerous. Don't let it go through an x-ray!"
The screen connected to the x-ray glitched a little as the purple glow in Ned's backpack grew brighter.
"Liz? Liz! Damn it," Peter cursed and dropped the phone call. He increased his sprinting speed. He threw his backpack at a tree and webbed it there. He hoped that the height of the tree would keep his backpack safe. Last thing he needed was having to tell Aunt May that he needed a seventh backpack.
Ned collected his backpack and hopped into the elevator next to Gwen.
Flash was already inside standing next to Mr. Harrington, trophy still clutched tightly in his hands. "Hey, Mr. Harrington, can I be the one to tell Peter he's expelled?" he asked with a sweet smile.
The elevator slowly climbs up with a low whir. The tour guide – a woman who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but stuck in an enclosed space with hormonal teenagers – spewed out facts.
Gwen's arm hairs stood; her head buzzed with a slight vibration. Immediately, she understood what that meant: Her Spidey Senses were tingling.
"Everyone get down!"
The purple glow in Ned's backpack grew so bright that it tore a giant hole through the fabric which then tore an even bigger hole in the metal elevator. The light shattered the glass above and cracked the whole tip of the monument. People started to scream.
"No one move," Gwen ordered. No one dared to challenge her words. She was cursing herself for not noticing earlier.
Peter looked halted a little to look up at the large crack that was around the entire monument tip. "No, no, no, no, no. Karen, what's going on up there?" he asked quickly.
"The Chitauri core has detonated and causes severe structural damage to the elevator," Karen informed.
The eyes on Spider-Man's mask change views and showed Peter the elevator inside as well as pointing out the people and the points of damage.
"Oh, no."
"My friends are up there!" MJ yelled out, pointing up the monument.
With wide eyes, Peter looked back, shocked. "What?! Uh, don't worry, ma'am. Everything's gonna be okay." He ran through the crowd that had gathered at the base. "Excuse me, excuse me." He stopped at the monument and looked up, muttering, "Oh my God, that's tall."
He leapt off the ground and started to crawl up the stone.
Ned dropped his backpack to the center of the floor, worriedly glancing at Gwen who could only nod in reassurance.
"Oh my God," said Charlie. "Look at the ceiling."
Up on the ceiling, a glowing orange circle cracked across the metal. The metal groaned loudly under the weight of everyone.
"Just stay calm, everyone," Gwen said.
"Oh, we are all going to die," Abe muttered to himself.
Gwen looked pointedly at Abe. "No, we are not," she stated sternly. "None of us are going to die, you hear me? Listen to everything I say, and we will all be fine."
"Estimating ten minutes before catastrophic failure," Karen informed Peter.
"We're freaking screwed," Charlie said.
"Okay, guys, I know that was scary," the tour guide said comfortingly, "but our safety systems are working."
The elevator groaned again. To Gwen, it did not sound like the safety systems were working.
"The safety systems are completely failing."
"We're very safe," the tour guide said.
"The occupants are in imminent mortal danger."
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Peter gasped out, panting heavily. From the ground, he was just a black speck on the white stone of the Washington Monument.
Two park rangers at the top pried open the elevator doors. Gwen carefully opened the hatch on the elevator ceiling, some pieces of glass falling in and cutting up her cheeks, not that she noticed, nor cared. Her priority was to get everyone else out first.
First, Cindy was pulled out for being the smallest, and if the elevator could handle her weight, it should (theoretically) hold everyone else's.
"You now have a hundred and twenty-five seconds until catastrophic failure," Karen informed.
Peter's hand slipped a little at the news. "What? Why?" he fired off hastily, increasing his climbing speed.
"Unexpected motion has caused the deterioration to escalate, despite how slow the movement is."
"How do I get in?"
"Activating reconnaissance drone." The emblem on Spider-Man suit detached and a cute, little spider drone appeared and flew off over the monument.
"Whoa," Peter breathed out, "has that been there the whole time? That's awesome."
"Locating optimal entry point."
The drone's point of view showed itself on Peter's eyes. There was a small window on the edge of the monument.
"Proceed to southwest window."
"Karen, I'm on my way."
He climbed his way over to the southwest window. He pressed his back against the stone and peered down the side. Hundreds of feet down, there was MJ waiting worriedly, along with everyone else. He sucked in a sharp breath, pressing himself further into the stone side.
"Ah," he panted heavily. "Okay. Oh my God. Okay." He took a panicked breath and press himself further into the wall.
"What's wrong?" Karen asked innocently. "You've reaches the southwest window. Why are you hesitating?"
"It's fine," he reassured, although it sounded like it was more for him than the AI. "It's just, I've just never been this high before."
A few seagulls were perched on the ledge of the window. Peter tried to shoo them away with hand without ever letting go of the stone.
"You have also not reinstalled your parachute, so a fall from this height would most likely be lethal."
He shimmied his way onto the window ledge, the seagulls flying away on their own accord. "Perfect," he said sarcastically. "Oh my God." He stuck himself to the wall and kicked the window's glass with the back of his foot. Nothing happened. "Why is it not breaking?"
"It's four-inch ballistic glass," Karen said. Peter repressed a groan of complaint. "You'll have to create more momentum."
He shot a web out a few feet above the glass. He readied himself on the ledge and took a deep breath before pushing off the window and coming back with more force. One the second jump, a small crack appeared on the window where his foot landed.
Police helicopters appeared overhead, guns ready. The speaker on one of them crackled to life before blaring, "This is D.C. Metro police. Identify yourself."
"My friends are in there!" Spider-Man yelled, but his voice couldn't carry out over the loud whir of the helicopter blades. "My friends are in there! Stop!"
"Return to the ground immediately."
Inside the elevator, Liz grabbed ahold of Mr. Harrington's shoulder and was getting ready to go up herself, when Flash suddenly pushed himself through. "Me, it's my turn!" he cried out, the trophy still in hand.
"Flash, seriously?" Gwen demanded. "What are you doing? Don't worry about the trophy, worry about your life!"
But Flash tuned her out.
Peter climbed up to the literal tip of the monument, crouching down where he was preparing himself for something dramatic that would hopefully work. "Oh, I'm gonna die." He pushed off the stone and flew over the helicopter's blades, extending the wings on the suit; he shot a web in the copter's metal body and used that momentum to break the window.
Spider-Man landed on the ground just as Flash got out – trophy still in his hands – and the elevator cart went plummeting down.
Everyone inside started to scream, everyone but Gwen. She never felt so useless in her life. She could've saved everyone just by using her powers, but at the cost of her identity being out.
Was that a thing she could give up? Her privacy? Her life?
Thankfully, she didn't have to answer. Spider-Man shot a web at the elevator as he braced himself against the broken glass doors. He grunted at the weight as Liz, Ned, Mr. Harrington, and Gwen were all jostled around.
"I did it!" cheered Spider-Man. The broken glass doors broke free, making the elevator free fall once again. Spider-Man was pulled forward into the elevator shaft as he was still holding onto the web that was attached to the elevator.
The elevator stopped when it hit a metal beam, and Spider-Man came crashing down and landing on the floor. His added weight broke the beam under the elevator and plummeted again.
Acting fast, Spider-Man shot a web out which attached itself to the ceiling which was still left at the top of the elevator shaft. His feet landed on the ceiling of the cart, grunting as he did so.
"Ahem," Spider-Man cleared his throat. He tried to make his voice deeper. "Hey, how you doing? Don't worry about it. I got you."
"Yes! Yes!" Ned cheered, slightly jumping around.
"Hey, Ned, stop!" ordered Gwen. "Stop moving!"
Peter sent a grateful nod to the blonde.
"Sorry," Ned apologized.
Slowly, the elevator climbed its way up towards the top where the two park rangers were waiting expectantly. It took a little time, but once they did, everyone got out.
"Mr. Harrington," Cindy said, "go. Ned, come on. Gwen, hurry."
"All right, this is your stop," grunted out Spider-Man.
Everyone shuffled out. Liz, however, was rooted in her place, frozen in fear.
"Go, go, go! Everybody out! Move it, people. Move it, move it!"
"Are you sure it's safe?" Liz asked, staring at the glass and pieces of metal laying around.
"Yes!" Gwen exclaimed, reaching a hand out. "Come on!"
The ceiling snapped under Peter's pressure.
The elevator free fell again.
Liz screamed out.
Spider-Man shot a web, sticking itself to Liz's wrist, pulling her out of the elevator as it fell into the dark.
"You're okay," Spider-Man assured. Liz never looked away from the mask's eyes. "You're okay." He pulled her up. His gloved hand connected with hers. "Okay." The web that was holding the two up was starting to snap, but he didn't pay any attention – it all on Liz and her safety.
Gwen grabbed Liz's arm to help her up.
Mr. Harrington ordered everyone back. Gwen tried to pull Liz back, but the stubborn girl stayed in her place.
"So, uh, is everyone okay?" Spider-Man asked, still hanging upside down on the web.
Liz nodded, too frightened to speak.
"This is your chance, Peter," Karen said softly. "Kiss her."
Liz and Peter held a look.
The web snapped.
Spider-Man fell.
Gwen rushed forward and leaned out the glass doors to watch the red and blue suit disappear into the dust below. Her heart shattered like the glass that was around her. She realized something: She couldn't save this Peter Parker either.
"Thank you," Mr. Harrington called out into the black.
Flash leaned over Gwen, not noticing her broken expression. "Are you really friends with Peter Parker?" he called out, but no answer ever came.
Gwen didn't move. Tears built themselves up in her eyes, but none came down.
Ned came over and pulled her up into his arms where she leaned into his yellow – now covered in dust – blazer.
🕷
Gwen never said anything, even when MJ hugged her awkwardly in an attempt to comfort the blonde. MJ was tempted to draw the blonde, but decided against it when she saw her face.
On the bus, Charlie sat next to Gwen, draping his yellow blazer over her shoulders. He wrapped his arm over her, pulling her into his chest, whispering comforting words into her ear.
She didn't hear anything, her mind too focused on Peter's fall. Her mind flashed back to when her Peter died.
He was already dead when she got to him.
Gwen got into a fight with the Lizard, and the Lizard thought it was a great idea to have a hostage, so he picked one off the street. That hostage being Peter Parker: Gwen's mentor, brother figure, and best friend.
Gwen fought against the Lizard, and won, but at what cost? She put the bad guy away, but her Peter died because of that.
She vividly remembered what it was like to see his cut and bruised body laying on the tiled floor. She remembered what it was like to hold his lifeless body to her. She remembered the pain and guilt she felt afterwards. She remembered the shell she became after he died. She remembered the funeral they had. She remembered the look of pain on Aunt May's face as she stared at her nephew's coffin. She remembered when May kept assuring Gwen that it wasn't her fault for Peter not being there, alive. She remembered May's pained smile and watery eyes she gave. She remembered the public's surprise when they noticed that there were no longer two spider people anymore - only Spider-Woman.
She remembered all of it, and she hated it.
She never looked up when other people filled into the bus. She never said anything.
She looked up when another face showed up – a face she didn't know she would ever see: Peter Parker.
Gwen got up from her seat, from under Charlie's arm and blazer, launching herself at Peter. He caught her. Tightly wrapping his arms around her torso when he heard the soft cries come out of her mouth. He held onto her tighter.
She needed comfort, and so did he. That experience was terrifying for both of them, both for different reasons.
Peter and Gwen moved towards the back of the bus to sit behind MJ and Ned. They never let go of each other.
Gwen leaner her head on his shoulder, always needing some kind of contact to make sure he was real, that he was with her, alive.
Charlie looked back with sad eyes before turning back to the front. The blazer that was once over Gwen's shoulder now sat next to him, forgotten.
"Are you okay?" Peter whispered softly.
Gwen laughed lightly, though no humor was in the humor. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" she asked. "After all, you were the one who fell hundreds of feet."
He shrugged his shoulders, Gwen's head moving along with it. "I'm fine. I'm not dead."
Those words pierced Gwen's heart. She took another shaky breath. "I can't lose another Peter Parker," she mumbled, her bottom lip quivering. "I can't."
"Hey, I'm right here," he said comfortingly. He watched a single tear roll down her cheek before she quickly wiped it away with her sleeve. He was silent for second before asking, "What happened?"
"That doesn't matter." She really didn't want to talk about the subject, and Peter was okay with that. "I-I th-thought that maybe you. . ." she trailed off, not being able to finish her sentence.
But she didn't need to finish her sentence; he already understood. Peter grabbed her hand with his, letting her know he was still there. "I'm right here."
The school ride back was quiet, and not just between Peter and Gwen, but with the entire decathlon team. No one wanted to talk, everyone still reeling in shock from the experience.
By the bus got back to the school's entrance, worried parents were all waiting expectantly for their children. One by one, parents took their children into their arms, hugging the life out of them.
Peter and Gwen were the last ones off the bus. They barely touched the ground before Aunt May brought the two into a crushing embrace.
She drove the two home after getting their things. She also forced Gwen to stay with them, not wanting the young girl to be alone after such a traumatic event. Stopping by her apartment, Gwen quickly took a shower and changed into pj's before meeting up with Aunt May. May was originally going to take the couch while Gwen took her bed. Peter offered to take the top bunk while she took the bottom one. With a grateful smile, she fell asleep.
Peter couldn't asleep – his mind never stopped replaying the events in the Washington Monument. He rolled over and looked down past the metal bars of the top bunk to see Gwen curled up on the left side, the blanket covering her.
He felt ashamed for causing her to be in pain. He didn't mean to. He was just trying to do what he thought was right.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into the darkness.
Peter vowed to keep Gwen out of trouble, to not hurt her again.