The first day of spring didn't bring much ease to the chill that seemed to be permanently hung over the city during the winter months.
The insistent chill didn't stop crimes from happening in spurts, though. Ned called Peter earlier in the day as they both looked over police scanners in the area. It was then that Peter decided to drag out his patrol throughout most of the day.
Despite the cold, Peter was sweating in his suit as he stood on a decorated rooftop in the middle of Queens. While looking across the horizon of the city, he could see blocks away. It was a pretty amazing sight, even better considering the strings of leftover Christmas lights around the roof.
"Doesn't the city look so nice today, Karen?" he spoke aloud to the suit, smiling a bit.
The robotic voice let out a hum of agreement. "It definitely looks picture perfect. Would you like a picture of this moment, Peter?"
Peter gasped, his smile widening. "You can do that?! Yes, snap a picture, Karen!"
He heard a click echo through his mask. Soon, a high quality photo of the skyline was spit out through a compartment in which his web fluid would usually shoot out of. He admired the sleekness of the photo, wondering how he never knew Karen was a camera. Then again, he never knew of Karen's existence until months before.
"Is that satisfactory, Peter, or would you like another one?" Karen asked, the robotic voice speaking throughout the suit.
"Oh, no, it's awesome! I was just thinking about how I never knew you could even take pictures; that's amazing!" Peter exclaimed, a smile taking over his face. "Thank you, Karen."
"I've always been a camera of sorts. Remember that Thor impression you did? I can play it now if you'd like," Karen told him, starting a whirring sound as the video was brought up as a hologram of sorts through Peter's web shooter.
"Nope! We do not have to relive that... again..." Peter told her, flailing his arms around in an attempt to get rid of the video.
"I record everything because it's what I see. And, you're welcome, Peter." The way Karen's voice hit Peter's ears made him think that there was a huge possibility that robots could speak with some emphasis or laughter in their voices. Soon, he shrugged the thought away, shoving the picture into a pair of lightweight shorts he had underneath his suit.
For a few hours, the crimes Peter ran into were simple ones that he would've done while patrolling after just discovering his powers. He helped an old woman who had gotten her purse stolen, he tracked down a stolen car, he even had to write old fashioned notes of bikes again.
But, Peter was not expecting to run into Flash on the roof of a building who was accompanied by four other kids. Peter had gotten lost in convincing himself that he would never have to face the people that harassed him on a day-to-day basis for years, that seeing them rendered him speechless for a few seconds. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart, and his breathing became shaky.
"-his heart's beating mad fast," a boy Peter recognized as Sean finished telling Flash.
Peter blinked, finally able to take more steps closer to the group. Funnily enough, the five boys noticeably took a step back as Peter approached them, and the smirk on Flash's face was gone for a second.
"Flash, are you sure about this, dude? I mean, we're not even in suits like you are!" One of the twins yelled to the leader of the group. Flash rolled his eyes, shooting him a look.
"Don't say names, idiot," Flash spit out at the boy, his teeth clenched. He shook his head at the group of boys before looking to Peter once again.
Meanwhile, Sean didn't look like he was backing down anytime soon. "Why's your breath shaky, Spider-Man, hmm?" he taunted, taking a step closer to Peter.
"Enhanced senses," Karen informed Peter which made Peter bite his lip in thought. Although Peter had enhanced senses, too, he wasn't sure whether or not Sean had any other abilities which could be seen as either a huge advantage or disadvantage to Peter.
"So," Peter cleared his throat, addressing Flash who smiled wickedly, "I see you have a team now." He lowered the octave of his voice, anxious that the boys would recognize his voice despite not being around him for a few months at that point.
Flash opened his mouth to answer, but he was quickly interrupted by the superhero in front of him. "Hey." Peter pointed to one of the twins who held a camera, making Flash smack his forehead in annoyance. "I'm already a viral sensation. I appreciate it though."
The boy opened and closed his mouth, searching for words while looking like a dying fish. He continued filming the events with shaky hands, offering Spider-Man a nervous grin. Peter shook his head, grabbing the blond's twin brother's hand who was reaching up to punch him.
"Nice try," Peter complimented before throwing him across the rooftop.
Flash surged towards him, and Peter quickly jumped out of his way, attaching his webbing to a nearby building. Tony's voice echoed through Peter's mind, and he hoped that none of the other boys had the same abilities as Flash.
Peter threw himself at Flash, kicking him beside the blond who was insistently filming the fight. The other twin raced over to Flash, gripping his arms before they both stood up, seemingly unharmed.
"It seems like the boy Kyle has the power of healing," Karen told Peter. "Though, Quinn doesn't seem to have any powers at all... or, at least, he doesn't have any that would be successful in this environment."
Suddenly, as Peter was listening to Karen speak to him, he saw smoke out of the corner of his eyes. He yelped, his eyes widening as another boy Ashton backed away. The redhead's eyes returned to normal before attacking again, what looked like lasers shooting out of his eyes and onto Peter's suit.
He didn't need Karen's help to figure out what Ashton's powers were. Thankfully, the Spider suit was fire retardant, and Peter could only feel the heat off of the hot lasers without the pain factor.
Flash pushed Ashton out of the way, making Peter move away from him quickly. Peter fought his way from Flash, kicking at him and shooting webs at him and the other boys.
It was when he had caught Quinn, Kyle, and Sean in webs and attached them to frost covered lawn furniture that Tony called him. Peter was breathing heavily, trying to stay away from Flash as much as possible while simultaneously attempting to tie him up.
"Kid, don't speak. Just listen." Tony was strict and straight to the point that it almost made Peter stop everything he was doing.
Tony sighed, and Peter heard shuffling on the man's side of the call. "You have to get out of there. I don't know everything those kids are capable of, and I don't know how they got their powers. But, I know that they're a threat to you right now, so you have to leave and steer clear of them until we're able to pinpoint their weaknesses. I'll give you updates later."
With that, Tony hung up. Throughout the short call, Peter had managed to get some webbing around Flash, but not as much as he would've liked. Obeying Tony's orders, Peter shot a web and swung away from the mess of Flash's group.
-
After Tony had hung up the phone, Ned immediately called Peter. On the fifth ring, Peter picked up, safely on a rooftop, trying to steady his breathing from the anxiousness that had consumed him.
"Dude!" Ned yelled into the phone. "That was Flash and his friends!" He stammered out a bunch of unintelligible words, shocked at the whole event he had just witnessed through his laptop.
"I know, Ned," Peter responded, breathless. "Tony just called, and he told me to go."
"So... what happened?! I don't get the sound through this thing, you know!" Ned exclaimed, tapping excitedly on his desk. He closed his laptop, smiling as he spoke into the phone.
"Will you be quiet?!" Peter asked of him, talking a bit loudly himself as he swung to another rooftop.
"Mhm hm," Ned eagerly agreed, and Peter chuckled to himself. He could tell just by the tone of his little agreement that he was bursting with excitement to hear the details of his encounter with Flash and his group of boys.
"Thank you." Peter held a lengthy pause, finally cracking with a grin when Ned let out an impatient groan. "Okay, so you saw what happened earlier: I was just helping some random people with small things, getting to there before the police came, the usual Spider-Man business."
Peter continued after he was certain that Ned was listening along. "And, then out of nowhere, I go on the top of some apartment building, and Flash is there! Not only that, but he's with his goons too: Quinn, Kyle, Sean, and Ashton."
"What were their powers? How did they get them? What did Tony say? How are you g-"
"Ned," Peter said with a smile, shaking his head at the boy. "Sean had enhanced senses which is probably the worst out of the group besides Flash. Quinn has some type of power that wouldn't work in the 'environment' we were in - Karen's words, not mine. Kyle had healing powers which is also pretty bad for me, and Ashton had, like, heat vision of some sort."
"Oh, wow. There's not really a way to fight them off..." Ned let out a long exhale, the sound crackling in Peter's ears for a second. It was a sound of defeat, a sound that Peter felt deep in his gut as he looked below him to see people rushing through their lunch breaks.
"Yeah," Peter quietly agreed, walking along a web tightrope to another rooftop. "That's what Tony basically meant, I guess. I can't really stop them at all! We don't know how Flash got his powers, we don't know how the boys got their powers, we don't know their weaknesses, we don't know anything!"
Peter trailed off on his rant upon hearing Ned's hitched breath on the phone. "It's true," Peter whispered, shaking his head at the whole situation. "Sorry for screaming, but it's true, Ned."
"It's not, Pete," Ned gently spoke, and Peter could envision a soft smile on the boy's lips. "Tony's got this, alright? He's definitely still working on stuff, and I only know that because I like to watch the software programming in your suit change whenever he gets his hands on it. You guys'll find the answers you need soon. I have faith in that."
"That makes one of us."
Ned didn't respond fast enough to avoid Peter spiraling into another crisis. "I mean, what am I supposed to do about this?! I'm a superhero, but I'm a teenager! I can't exactly carry my suit around at all times when anyone could find out who I am. And, Flash and them could cause a whole disaster in the school - that's my worst fear if we're being honest - and I can't fucking do anything to stop it from happening."
Ned let out an unsure chuckle, clearing his throat when Peter remained silent. "Let's change the subject to something less anxiety inducing, yeah?"
Peter agreed with a groan, breathing out heavily in an attempt to calm himself down. Fortunately, the subject of Ned's topic change made Peter's heart beat quicken for a whole different reason.
"So, are you and Caden normal again?"
Peter laughed, his face heating up just at the mention of his boyfriend's name. "Yeah, it's very normal. A good normal. A great normal, actually. Things are... kinda perfect."
"Oh, really?" Ned chuckled, saying it in a way that made Peter want to shrink into himself out of embarrassment. "How?"
Peter winced, looking upwards as he thought for a few seconds. "I don't know, I just feel like everything is going so well between us right now, Ned. Almost too good which has been in the back of my mind a bit. Like - okay, this is weird - when I imagine us together... it's always the first drop of a rollercoaster."
Ned hummed in a questioning tone, and Peter took this as a sign to explain what his rambling meant. "You know... being with him is this thing where - like the rollercoaster analogy - it's my heart racing and my stomach gets kind of sick. And, in the back of my mind it's this small impending doom that could happen at anytime. It's a scary but fun thing."
Peter began his way back to the apartment. He was thankful for the cool air in his face to help diminish the blush that was creeping up his neck to his ears and cheeks.
Ned sighed, tsking while shaking his head at his best friend. "I feel like you just need to relax," he dragged out the word, laughing at the end of it. "Overall the rollercoaster's good, right? Sure, it can make you sick, but if you only focus on that then you'll miss the thrill of it all."
"Mhm." Peter had to agree as he swung through the city. "You're right, Ned. I guess I have to try and not be so pessimistic today."
Ned wholeheartedly agreed before he hung up. Both of the best friends planned to meet up later in the day to discuss what could possibly be done about the Flash situation. Peter hoped that they could do another topic change during that time as he was honestly emotionally exhausted over the whole thing for the day.
Jumping onto his fire escape, Peter quickly threw open the window. He was waiting patiently to get out of his sweaty suit that was clinging to his body, partly because of the skin tight design, the other part being because it was covered with sweat.
He tossed his mask off to the side, running a hand through his damp hair. He looked up only to freeze in his place, shock in his eyes.
Caden stared back at him with an expression of betrayal on his face.
-
A/N: I'm so excited for this part omg I've had it planned since the very beginning of this fic like it was one of my first notes in my Peter folder