At 11:58 our plan will go into action, Flash texted the group chat consisting of his team of not-so-conventionally made superheroes.
He didn't wait for any responses before putting his phone back into his pocket. He didn't have to wait for the boys to respond because he knew they would in the period leading up to their master plan. It was the main perk of being the leader of the group, Flash didn't have any concerns about them not doing what he expected. In a way, they all labeled the level of power as a well maintained dictatorship if there was such a thing.
At 11:50, within a minute of each other, all of the boys met up in the second floor bathroom. They had a perfect plan without realizing it: five different teachers sighing as they wrote five different passes for the bathroom.
"It's an emergency!" Sean insisted, throwing his hands in the air when his teacher sighed loudly, scribbling a signature on the blank pass.
"I really have to go," Ashton pleaded with his teacher, scrunching up his face in a pained expression.
"Just go," a study hall teacher waved Kyle away, the boy grinning.
"Try not to go when I'm in the middle of a lesson next time, hmm?" Quinn was told, eyeing the teacher cautiously as he pulled his bag onto his back. His desk mate gave Quinn a questioning look before turning her attention back to the class.
Flash checked his phone, shaking his head as the boys rushed into the bathroom, one after the other. "Took you guys long enough. Sean sent the text he was coming at 11:45... it took you all five minutes to get here?"
There were mumbled apologies around the circle that the boys had formed to face Flash. He waved a hand at the group of boys, instantly silencing them.
"At least you brought your stuff." Flash could give them that compliment, gesturing to the their backpacks. He gave them an approving nod, and they got to work changing into their suits.
By the time they had found their plan to be perfect, all of the boys had morph suits of their own to match Flash's. Flash rubbed his temples as they changed their suits, feeling that a vision would be coming soon from his sudden headache.
He wasn't surprised that he was right. Rainbow colored sparks of electricity appeared in his mind and disappeared quickly as he blinked away the colors.
"Sean, you know what to do, right?" Flash spoke to Sean who was struggling to fit his suit over his undershirt. Flash smacked his hand against his forehead, thinking that he should assign someone else to cause the distraction between the lunch periods.
Sean hurriedly stripped his undershirt off, situated his suit, and turned to Flash as he was breathing heavily. "Yeah," he replied with upturned lips, a ghost of a smile showing. "I've got this."
"You better."
"Or else Flash will beat your ass," Quinn said in a joking manner. When Flash turned and glared at him, he quickly stopped his quiet chuckling, focusing entirely on adjusting the night vision sensors on his head.
Sean grabbed the wire from Flash, looking out of the bathroom door cautiously before making his way to the basement.
Thanks to the AV club, Sean had access to the school's electricity panel where one move would be able to cause a school wide blackout. He gripped Flash's suit and wire in his hands, bringing them closer to the panel.
He spotted an outlet, and the bell ringing throughout the school was his signal to plug the USB wire into it. He attached the loose ends to both Flash's suit and his own, bracing himself for the amplified impact it could cause him.
The result was a mess of electric sparks shooting all over the room, and Flash had quickly texted him that the lights were flickering and even shattering throughout the floor from what he could hear.
Sean backed away from the panel, creeping up the stairs leading back into the school, listening to racing footsteps and screams from students. He smirked, the upturned lip breaking out into a full grin as he sensed the distinct smell of smoke and narrowed in on the crackle of fire in the building.
Everything was going according to plan.
-
After leaving in his old Spider-Man suit, Peter stayed by the school, trying to figure out the best way to enter without causing too much of a scene.
If something bad happened, it wouldn't make sense to anyone why Spider-Man would be randomly breaking into and checking up on Midtown unless he knew of what was to come. Then, it wouldn't just be a battle with Flash, but it would be a battle to clear his own name, insisting that he had no idea of what horrible things had been planned to destroy the school.
Peter circled the school a bunch of times, scaling the building to try and find the least noticeable entrance. At the back of the school, he found an air duct that he couldn't hear anything through. As he pried it open, he figured he could be either jumping into a room full of kids taking a test or an empty classroom. Thankfully, it was the latter, and he pushed aside a ceiling tile to land softly on the ground.
It was nearing the start of lunch which Peter notes as he checked both the school clock and his phone. Underneath he wall clock, his eyes widened at the sight of a mini fridge. Teachers would be coming into the classroom he was in, and he had less than a minute to decide what to do.
The bell rang as he was climbing back into the air duct, shaking his head at himself for the poorly thought out idea. Then, his eyes widened for a different reason as the ringing bell in between periods wasn't enough to drown out the screaming from students and from what Peter could smell, a fire. The lights flickered throughout the hallways, and Peter could hear bulbs shattering left and right.
He quickly tossed aside the ceiling tile, making his way out into the hallway. He stepped back as hundreds of students were running in opposite directions to find the nearest exit.
Everyone was in too much of a panic to notice him, and soon enough, Peter's webbing was clinging onto the ceiling as he swung through the hallways.
He accidentally located where he thought the fire had been started as he smelled smoke closest to the basement. Personally, he didn't know the basement very well since the dusty scary house vibe wasn't where Caden and Peter decided to make out like so many of their peers did.
He pushed his way to the school's electricity panel which was sparking multicolored electricity, lighting up the small area around it. Peter didn't get too close, but he knew from the city wide blackout that this was Flash's doing. He shook his head, ready to leave to actually find the group of boys. They couldn't be far from the scene.
Peter's phone buzzed in his pocket before quietly playing "Girls Like Girls." It was Jackie. He tossed his phone in his hands before quickly answering so it didn't go to voicemail.
"Peter." It wasn't Jackie. Well, it was her number, but Peter's heartbeat quickened when Caden's voice greeted him. "Are you okay?"
"I..." Peter exhaled heavily, clearing his throat before continuing. "Why, what's happening? May made me stay home from school today. Is everything alright?"
"I don't know," Caden admitted with a breathy tone. "There was this explosion or something, and then the lights flickered in the school. And- And, now there's some kind of fire. I honestly have no idea what's going on."
"Are you guys safe? Why are you calling from Jackie's phone?"
"We're all fine, yeah." Peter could hear voices of his friends in the background of the call, and Caden was responding, chuckling a bit. "My phone's in my locker, and I couldn't get to it. I called Tabitha and then you. I needed to know how you guys were."
"Oh." Peter's heart melted. It was moments like these where he hated himself for messing everything up. He couldn't feel the same affection for Caden without it being paired with hate towards himself.
"You know I have to see what's happening at the school then, right?" Peter told him quietly, his voice a little shaky. He wanted to take it back when Caden hadn't answered for an entire minute, every second more heartbreaking like they were fighting all over again.
"I know, but I don't like it," Caden replied, sadness and honesty entwined with his words. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Please be safe, alright?"
Although, Peter had to strain to hear him, Caden whispering quieter than anyone he knew, the feeling behind the words wasn't lost. "I will," Peter promised, smiling into the phone.
The two hung up, neither of them wanting to, but Peter had to continue his search for the team of boys.
The school was nearly empty by the time Peter left the basement. Smoke filled the hallways, and glass was splayed across the floors like someone had dumped a bucket of water over the school, droplets of glass everywhere.
As he rounded the corner of a set of lockers, Peter's phone buzzed again. No ringtone though. His brows furrowed at a text from Tony Stark appearing on his home screen.
Bathroom. First floor. By English classrooms I believe. I heard kids reciting Shakespeare as they escaped the school.
Peter laughed quietly to himself. He turned around, swinging down a flight of stairs, making his way to the bathroom next to his AP Lang classroom.
A flashback to when he met up with Happy in the bathroom on the second floor. He figured the Avengers had something with bathrooms even though they were probably the least private rooms in a high school.
"Hey, kid," Tony greeted Peter, opening up his briefcase in a hurry. He made a face at Peter's old suit he had on, shoving the more pristine suit into his arms. "Take off those pajamas, you can't fight them in that. You need your actual suit."
Peter did as he was told, meeting Tony outside of the bathroom stall in less than a minute. "Mr. Stark... I have to say, I'm a li-"
"No." Tony looked at him intensely, holding both of his shoulders, forcing Peter to look him in the eyes. "Even if you think you can't do it, your suit knows. Remember the plan, Peter. I made the modifications, and everything's working perfectly. You should be fine. Don't hesitate to have your suit lady Karen take over for a bit, alright?"
Peter just nodded, still absorbing everything the man was throwing at him. Tony gave him a smile, placing Peter's old suit in place of his newer one in his briefcase.
"Good luck, Spider-Man."